THE ARDEN SHAKESPEARE
GENERAL EDITOR: W. J. CRAIG
1899-1906: R. H. CASE, 1909
MACBETH
\^iY^
THE WORKS
OF
SHAKESPEARE
MACBETH
EDITED BY
HENRY CUNINGHAM
?
METHUKN AND CO. I/ri).
86 ESSEX STREET: STRAND
LONDON
Second Edition
First Published
Second Edition
February 23rd igi2
January ^9^7
,vr .<^.
/^/ ■'
PAGE
Introduction :
(i) Prefatory vii
(ii) General xiii
Macbeth i
Appendix 153
INTRODUCTION
I. Prefatory
The Editor is not responsible for the text of this play as
printed in this edition. The text, he is informed, is substanti-
ally that of Delius as edited by the late W. J. Craig in his
" Little Quarto Shakespeare," first published in 1905. It
is admitted by all competent scholars that the text of Mac-
beth has been more or less vitiated by the interpolations
or additions of some dramatist other than Shakespeare ; and
that the only real question is as to the extent of these inter-
polations ; but hardly any editor has had the courage of his
convictions by venturing to express, in the only adequate way
in which it can be done, these convictions in his printed text.
Of recent English (including American) editors, Mr. E. K.
Chambers and Mr. Mark Harvey Liddell {Macbeth, 1903) are,
I think, the only exceptions ; the latter in a somewhat hesitat-
ing way ; while the same remark applies to a recent German
editor, Hermann Conrad (1907). But at any rate these editors
have, in a measure, indicated their views in the text itself by
means of brackets, obeli, or other perfectly usual and allowable
methods. The segregation of the spurious work of other
dramatists from the authentic text of Shakespeare is all the
more important and necessary in view of the enormous output
of editions during the past twenty years, and also in view of
the fact that there is no subject of Shakespearian study more
important or more difficult than the ascertainment and settle-
ment, so far as this is, humanly speaking, possible, of his text.
" As our knowledge grows," say the editors of The Cambridge
Shakespeare in their preface (vol. ix. p. xxi, 1893), "so also
our admiration and our pleasure in the study increase, dashed
only by a growing sense of the textual imperfections and
vii
viii MACBETH
uncertainties which stand between the author and his readers.
For, besides the recognised difficulties, we are convinced that
there are many passages, still easily scanned and construed,
and therefore not generally suspected of corruption, whicTi
nevertheless have not been printed exactly as they were first
written^ Some ruder hand has effaced the touch of the
masier." It is greatly to be regretted therefore that the want
of courage already referred to should mar the excellence of
so many otherwise reputable editions ; and to no play of
Shakespeare does this remark apply with so much cogency
as to Macbeth. For example, the so-called "Clarendon"
editors {i.e. the editors of the Cambridge Shakespeare), in
their well-known and excellent edition of this play (1869)
were of opinion that many scenes and passages were not
written by Shakespeare, but they failed to substantiate this
view by any indications in their text. The unthinking reader
who never perhaps looks at an introduction or note, is allowed
by editors and publishers to go on reading the adulterating
trash as if it sprang from Shakespeare's lawful parentage.
Slavish admiration for the Folio cannot go much further ; and
it makes one almost despair of ever seeing an authentic and
unadulterated text of the plays.
These remarks apply with peculiar force to Macbeth. For
example, there is not a single scholar of any repute, with the
exception perhaps of Mr. A. W. jyerity, who would now at-
tempt to defend the authenticity oF Act III. scene v. J^ or, in
fact, the iiitroduction of the absurd and superfluous character
of Hecate. Yet what do we find in every page of dramatis
personcB, on every stage where Macbeth is played ? We find
Hecate admitted as an authentic character, we find her playing
K her supererogatory part, sponsored by the interpolator of the
J so-called " witch scenes " — whether Middleton, or Rowley,
/> or Wilkins, Why should these pantomimic characters of
"witches" continue to disfigure this noble tragedy? Shake- \
speare's ministers of fate and supernatural aid are weird sisters, I
not "witches." In no single authentic passage of the play
does he refer to a " witch," with the sole exception of his refer-
ence to "witches' mummy " in IV. i. 23. And, as mentioned
in the general introduction, the references to " witchcraft
celebrating pale Hecate's offerings" (ll. i. 51) and "black
INTRODUCTION ix
Hecate's summons" (ill. ii. 41) are merely references to night.
They have nothing to do with the scheme of the tragedy.
The question of theextent of the interpolations in Macbeth^
has been fully dealt with in the general introduction. Put-
ting the matter briefly here, this editor is of opinion that the
spurious portions are, in Act I. scenes i., ii., and iii. 1-37 {i.e.
I the first 118 lines of the play) ; in Act III. scene v. ; and in
Act IV. scene i. 39-43 and 125-132, — in all about 167 lines;
and that these interpolations are only concerned with the
" weird sister ' scenes. He is further of opinion that the only
adequate means of* emphasising these views is to indicate
spurious passages by the use of brackets or obeli, as is in fact
done by every competent scholar, both in classical and modern
texts ; or by the use of smaller type, if not indeed preferably
by both methods. Another point occurs in connection with
Shakespeare's weird sisters as opposed to the conventional
"witches." Shakespeare's authentic tragedy is concerned
with his weird sisters alone, and therefore the " witches7
should be deleted from the dramatis personce. For example,
I. iii. 48-69 should be printed in the text as follows : —
1 Sister. " All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of Glamis ! " (48)
2 Sister. " All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor I "
3 Sister. " All hail, Macbeth I that shalt be king hereafter I " (50)
Ban. " Good Sir, . . . Your favours nor your hate."
1 Sister. " Hail I " (62)
2 Sister. " Hail ! "
3 Sister. " Hail I "
1 Sister. " Lesser than Macbeth and greater ! " (65)
2 Sister. " Not so happy yet much happier ! "
3 Sister. " Thou shall get kings, though thou be none : "
All. " So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo,
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail I " (69)
The last two lines should undoubtedly be assigned to a// the
sisters, and not to the " 3 witch " and " i witch " as in the
text adopted in this edition. This view is of course quite
"revolutionary" in the minds of all adherents of a "conserva-
tive " text. Let any reader ask himself if it is really so. Is
Shakespeare's text altered ? Not a jot. And that is all we
are concerned with. If any authority be wanted for such a
change, reference may be made to Act I. scene i. where the
X MACBETH
changes made in the Folio have been universally accepted. It
is well known that little or no reliance is to be placed_on stage
1 1 directions, or names of characters ; and alterations have been
-^/l made in these by almost every editor since Rowe^^ 1709).
Similarly, in the great incantation scene in Act IV. alterations
of the like character should be made. These are mentioned
in their places in the notes, but they cannot adequately be
brought home to the mind of the reader unless he has the
altered text before him. And this important question is con-
cerned with specific points of difificulty in the Folio text occur-
ring in respect of words corrupted, misprinted or omitted ;
land the equally important matter of the re-arrangement of
faultily printed lines. The Editor has attempted to deal with
these in their places in the notes ; but the only adequate
method of dealing with them is by setting them out in the
text itself. A few of these may be mentioned in this place
by way of illustration — (I) Emendations, etc, : {a) Corrections
of the text : IV. ii. 22, '■ Each way amoved" ; IV. iii. 136, ''the
7 \ grace of Goodness Betide,'' etc.; V. iii. 5, " consequence" ; V. iii. 44,
7 " sluff" ; V. iv. 10, " sitting down." {b) Words or letters added
' to or removed from the text : I. iv. 35, " sons [and] kinsmen " ;
I. v. 40, "Come you [ill] spirits " ; I. vi. 30, "continue [in] our
graces" ; II. iii. 80, " Banquo, [up] !" ; II. iii. 125, " where[out]
our fate " ; III. ii. 16, "[become] disjoint, . . . suffer [dissolu-
tion] " ; IV. ii. 23, "[It] shall not be long"; IV. iii. 44, "of
goodly thousands [ten]"; IV. iii. 218, "all [my children]";
V. V. 32, "Well say [it], Sir"; V. vii. 89, "[Hail!]." (11)
Re-arrangement of faultily printed lines : I. iii. 7, 8, " Her
husband's to Aleppo gone. Master o' the Tiger " (in two
lines); II. iii. 107, 108, "they stared . . . them " ; II. iii. 126-8,
" Let us away . . . foot of motion " ; III. i. 45, " Sirrah . . .
men our pleasure?"; III. ii. 16, 17, " But let . . . [dissolu-
tion]" ; III. iii. 9-11, "Then it is he . . . Are in the court";
III. iv. 4-6, " And play . . . Her welcome " ; III. vi. 29, 30,
" Thither Macduffs gone To pray," etc. ; III. vi. 39-40, "Sent
he To Macduff," etc. ; IV. i. 124, "And points ... is this
so?"; IV. iii. 15-17, "Something ... an angry god"; IV.
iii. 238, " the powers above put on Their instruments " ; V. v.
29, "Thou comest . . . Thy story quickly."
INTRODUCTION xi
When a word is of necessity introduced into the text to
supply something which is missing in the scansion of a line,
its inclusion in brackets or its printing in italics or both is
quite sufficient to put the reader on his guard as to its occur-
rence or omission in the text of the Folio. And this is entirely
the modem practice. For example, it is quite common in
Churton Collins's edition of Greene's works (Clarendon Press,
1905), see vol I. p. 100, line 725, in the play of Alphonsus,
where Collins, following Walker, restores, in his text, the lost
word " the," but is careful to enclose it in brackets : " And
giue thee that [the] which thou well hast wonne " ; re-
marking that the reading "is certainly supported by the
fourth line of the speech, and I therefore introduce it into the
text." See also page I2i, line 1433, where he adopts in his
text Dyce's reading, Turkie-[land]. It is needless to multiply
examples or to offer further comment. One might only be
told that Collins was a rash and incompetent editor.
References to plays of Shakespeare other than the present
play are to the well-known Globe edition, on the ground of its
general acceptance for purposes of reference.
A note or comment well written in the first instance tends
to become permanent and need not be repeated in another
form. In his notes the Editor has striven to give honour to
whom honour is due and to acknowledge indebtedness to pre-
vious editors and commentators. It is too much the custom
to " convey " from the great eighteenth century editors without
any acknowledgment of the debt.
For the "aesthetic appreciation" of the leading characters
in Macbeth the Editor is greatly indebted to Dr. A. C. Bradley's
admirable volume, Shakespearean Tragedy (1904). No more
valuable contribution to the study of the great tragedies has
ever been published in either hemisphere. The Editor is in-
debted to Mr. W. J. Lawrence of Dublin for his communica-
tion of a valuable and interesting paper, published by him in
the German periodical Anglia, on Lock's (or Purcell's) music
to Macbeth ; and he regrets that space will not permit of
at least a summary of the paper in the general introduc-
tion.
Lastly, the Editor is indebted to the General Editor, Pro-
xii MACBETH
fessor Case, for many useful notes and suggestions, some of
which he has been able to incorporate in the notes ; and in
particular for the note on "breeched with gore," 11. iii. 119,
which he states was sent to him by the late W, J. Craig, editor
of the Oxford Shakespeare, and formerly general editor of the
Arden Shakespeare.
INTRODUCTION
II. General
The Tragedie of Macbeth appears to have been first printed in
the Folio of 1623, being then entered in the books of the
Stationers' Company as follows : " Nov, 8, 1623. Mr. Blounte
and Isaak Jaggard.] Mr. William Shakespeere's Comedyes,
Histories, and Tragedyes, soe many of the said Copies as are
not formerly entered to other men. viz. . . . Mackbeth." In
the Folio it occupies twenty-one pages, vis. 131 to 151 inclu-
sive, in the division assigned to the Tragedies, coming after
Julius Ccssar and before Hamlet. The Folio indicates the acts
and scenes throughout, but not the dramatis personce, which
were first given by Rowe in modern form, although " The
Persons' names" were prefixed to Davenant's version of 1674.
It is, unfortunately, somewhat carelessly printed, especially
as regards the metrical arrangernent. It may have been printed
fromBTctation and from a stage transcript, which, sometime
subsequently to its first production in 1606, had certainly been
re-handled~By another dramatist ; and this transcript may have
suffered from the wear and tear incidental to frequent perform-
ances by the King's company of players between the date of
Shakespeare's retirement from London, perhaps in 161 1, and
the printing of the Folio in 1623. Traces of the blunders and
irregularities caused by an imperfect printers' copy of some
kind are especially noticeable in the second scene of Act in.
In this respect I do not refer in particular to the interpolated
matter which masquerades as the second scene of Act I.
Incidentally, in respect of the production of the Folio, it
may be remarked that a great deal of misconception seems to
exist as to the duty performed by Shakespeare's " friends and
fellows," John Heminge and Henry Condell. We are forever
xiii
xiv MACBETH
indebted to them for such share as they did take in its pro-
duction ; and we need not reproach their memory with the
failure to perform a duty which they did not undertake. They
were not editors as modern editors are. Speaking of the plays
in their dedication of the Folio to the Earls of Pembroke and
Montgomery, they expressly say: "We have but collected
them . . . we cannot go beyond our own powers." And in
their well-known Address To the Great Variety of Readers, they
state, "But it is not our province who onely gather his works,
and give them you, to praise him." Heminge and Condell
.therefore beyond question conceived their duty to be done
when they had obtained all the available " copy," whether in
the form of MSS., quartos, transcripts, or players' parts of
Shakespeare's plays from the archives of the King's company,
or other sources, and entrusted them to the undertakers or
promoters of the Folio, "Wm. Jaggard (and Isaac Jaggard),
Ed. Blount, I. Smithweeke and W. Aspley," at whose
"charges" it was printed in 1623, and who were responsible
for the printing and "overseeing," which, in the case oi Macbeth
and other plays, were so carelessly performed. Such as it was,
the dutyof pfess^orfection was doubtless apportioned amongst
the promoters, and this may account, in part at least, for the
unequal amount of care and capacity shown in the printing of
,the various plays. Be this as it may, the settlement of the
; authentic text of Macbeth is a matter of very great difficulty,
and one factor in this is the absence of any antecedent copy,
' which, as in the case of many other plays printed in quarto
form before the idate of the Folio, could be used for purposes
of comparison. Nevertheless I think the difficulty is not so
entirely insuperable as would at first sight appear.
The most important question, and one of surpassing interest,
in relation_t:o_the text of Macbeth is the question of its altera-
tion or interpolation after the MS. left Shakespeare's hand. It
is now almost universally admitted that the play has been to
some extent re-handled, but to what extent and by whom are
points on which there_ha^_ jDeeii__and^ is grea^^
opinion.
In the text as we have it in the Folio, there is a certain
foundation of fact for the theory that the interpolator of Mac-
beth was Thomas Middleton,(gLj'5 70-1 621), a dramatist partly
INTRODUCTION xv
contemporaneous w[th Shakespeare, of whom he^ was. a_Jre-
quent imitator. His work is distinguished by much inequality,
tjut also by touches of " strange and sudden powerJ.' Middle-
ton is placed by such an experienced critic as Saintsbury (see
his Elizabethan Literature, 1888), at any rate in respect of his
first class work, in the front rank of dramatists immediately
7 second to Shakespeare himself. He wrote for^the King's
company (/.^. the company to which Shakespeare belonged),
between 161 4 and 1624 or thereabouts ; and he is the author,
) amongst ojher plays^lX^g ,1^^'^^/^ . which is generally supposed
I to have been written about 161^ and the MS. of which was
I only discovered by Steevens in 1779. In this play occur two
songs referred to by their first lines in the stage directions of
Macbeth, viz. at III. v. 33, " Come away, come away ;" and at
IV. i. 43, " Black spirits and white." These songs are found
in full in The Witch, III. iii. 39 and V. ii. 60 (ed. Bullen) re-
spectively ; and the inference is almost irresistible that Middle^"
ton had been employed by the players to adapt Shakespeare's
textjn_some small measure to the changing taste of the time,
and that he had eked out his work with these songs from his
own_£lay. The songs had evidently thenceforth become part
of the stage version of Macbeth, as they were also included by
Sir William Davenant in his extraordinary recast of the play
in 1674. Confirmation is lent to this theory by the fact that
The Witch contains several other point^^jres^mblance__to
Macbeth, points the significance of which need not,, of course,
be too strongly insisted on, although of much significance w^hen
read in connection with the other facts of the case. Compare,
for instance, the remark of Hecate in The Witch, I. ii. 180,
"I know he loves me not," with Macbeth, III. v. 13 (a scene
which is now universally recognised as interpolated), " Loves
for his own ends not for you " ;
The Witch, iv. iii. 17 :
" For the maid servants and the girls o' th' house,
I spic'd them lately with a drowsy posset,"
with Macbeth, 11. ii. 6 : " I've drugg'd their possets " ;
The Witch, v. ii. 85 :
" Hec. Come, my sweet sister, let the air strike our time,"
with the interpolated passage of Macbeth, iv. i. 129 :
b
xvi MACBETH
" I'll charm the air to give a sound
While you perform your antique round " ; ~
The Witch, iv. iii. 47 : " the innocence of sleep,"
with Macbeth, 11. ii. 35 : ** the innocent sleep " ;
The Witch, iv. iii. 78 : "there's no such thing,"
with the same expression in Macbeth, 11. i. 47 ;
The Witch, v. i. 16 : " I'll rip thee down from neck to navel,"
with the interpolated i. ii. 22 :
" Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps " ;
The Witch, in. ii. 145 :
"Why shak'st thy head so, and look'st so pale and poorly?"
with Macbeth, 11, ii. 64: " To wear a heart so white " ;
and 1. 71 : " Be not lost so poorly in your thoughts " ;
The Witch, in. iii. 33 : " I'm for aloft,"
with Macbeth (interpolated) iii. v. 20 : "I am for the air" ;
The Witch, in. iii. 62 : '^ Malkin my sweet spirit and I,"
with Macbeth i. i. 8 : "I come, Graymalkin " ;
and The Witch, v. ii. (stage direction), " A caldron in the centre,"
with Macbeth, iv. i. (stage direction): " In the middle, a boiling cauldron."
These coincidences^of expression, many of them no doubt
simply "conveyed," together ■vvith other traces of similarl^^,
are enough to emphasise the strong probability that the
dramatist of T/te Witck was the person who had a hand in
the adaptation 0/ Madmjth. The view of Steevens that Shake-
speare was indebted to Middleton is utterly inadmissible and
need not be discussed. It is enough to make the bare state-
ment that after his earliest efiforts in refashioning English
historical plays, Shakespeare was never indebted, at any rate
beyond the outline of a plot or story, to any other writer or
dramatist of his time for collaboration or other help in his
plays. What may have liappened to some of his later plays,
such as Macbeth, Tinion, Pericles and Cymbeline, after the MSS.
left his hand and he retired from active participation in the
work of the stage, is quite another matter. Besides, the most
casual perusal of The Witch is sufficient to show its immeasur-
able inferiority to Shakespeare's great tragedy.
It is also possible, though far from being so probable, that
the interpolator may have been William Rowley or George
Wilkins, and whether or not using Middleton's material.
Wilkins. who flourished about 1607, was associated as a
■^ playwright with the King's company, and was mainly employed
^
INTRODUCTION xvii
by them in revising old plays. There is little doubt that he
(possibly in association with Rowley) is responsible for the
gross scenes in Pericles. Rowley (i 585-1642) we know col-
laborated with Middleton in A Fair Quarrel (1614), and with
him and other playwrights in many other plays. His verse is
distinguished for its harshness, irregularity and extravagance,
but occasionally for much pathos and dignity.
The earlier editors and commentators appear generally
to have accepted the authenticity of the text of Macbeth as it
is found in the Folio ; but even at the beginning of the nine-
teenth century indications are not wanting of shrewd opinions
and conjectures as to the presence of interpolated matter.
For instance, Seymour in his Remarks (1805), speaking of
the very first scene, says : " The witches here seem jto be {
introduced for no other purpose than to tell us they are to /
meet again ; and as I cannot discover any advantage resulting ;
from such anticipation, but, on the contrary, think it injurious, ) ■^'
I cohcTucJe the scene is not genuine" (vol. i. p. 72). Again, ^ ?,
referring to Act i. scene iii. : " As Macbeth is the great object ?
of the witches, all that we hear of the sailor and his wife is
rather ludicrous and impertinent than solemn and material ;
I strongly suspect it is spurious " (p. 175). In truth, tha£.^is
noeffective answer to these " remarks."
More recent authorities have advanced opinions as to the
extent of these interpolations which opposing critics have
styled "revolutionary," For example, the Clarendon editors
(Clarke and Wright), in the Introduction to their edition of
Macbeth, 1 869, reject the following passages or lines : I. ii. ;
I. iii. 1-37 ; II. i. 61 ; II. iii. 1-46 ; III. v. ; IV. i. 39-47, 125-
132 ; IV. iii. 140-159; V. iii. ; V. v. 47-50 ; V. vii. 61, 62, 64-105 ;
and Fleay in his Shakespeare Manual, 1876, was of opinion
that even longer portions were to be condemned ; but in his
Life and Work of Shakespeare, 1880, he appears to have very
considerably modified these views and to reject only III. v. and
IV. i. 39-43. Chambers, in his edition of Macbeth, suspects,
and therefore rightly brackets. III. v. and IV. i. 39-43 and 125-
132. Dr. A. C. Bradley in his Shakespearean Tragedy, 1904,
p. 466, seems to assume that "almost the whole of Macbeth
ijis genuine," thgugh he leaves his opinion in great measure
jiunsupported and relies on the arguments of Chambers. Two
(
I
xviii MACBETH
passages, however, seem to him "open to serious doubt,"
viz. III. v., and IV. i. 39-43.
I am of^opinion that the spurious passages are the folJiiw-
ing, viz. I. i. ; I. ii. ; I. jii. 1-37 C^hat is to say the first 118
Uines of the play — its figurehead, so to speak, as we find it in
^the Folio) ; III, v. ; and ivj^35:;43 and_i25-i32,^n all about
167 lines. I quite agree with Seymour's remark, already
quoted, as to the dubious character of Act I. scene i. Long
familiarity with this scene need not blind us to the fact that
it does not rise above the ordinary Elizabethan level. Further,
the references to " Graymalkin " and " Paddock " would appear
to be simply " conveyed " from the great incantation scene,
IV. i. ; and the line " Fair is foul, and foul is fair " merely
reproduces the opening line of the authentic play, viz. I. iii-
38, Macbeth's utterance on his first appearancej_" bq foul and
fair a day I have not seeq." But if the scene be genuine, it is
probable that Shakespeare intended it to be transacted from
the balcony above the stage, so as to represent the weird
sisters hovering in the air, preparatory to their sudden appear-
ance to Macbeth and Banquo in scene iii. line 39. I thinly it
is merely fanciful to say, with Spalding {Elizabethan Demon-
ology, p. 102), that "this first scene is the fag-end of a witches'
I sabbath, which, if fully represented, would bear a strong re-
- I semblance to the scene at the commencement of the Fourth
'i Act." Spalding is much more to the point when he says that
"a long scene on the subject would be tedious and unmeaning
at the commencement of the play." The short answer to the
idea that the first scene is the " fag-end of a witches' sabbath," is
that this was nothing to Shakespeare's dramatic purpose, which
was simply and solely the announcement of the proph^ies by
the weird sisters, as we find them in scene iii. •
As to I. ii.^and^ iii. 1-32, I am in entire accord with the
Clarendon editors in their belief that these scenes were not
Ij written by Shakespeare. In respect to scene ii. they very
aptly remark : " Making all allowance for corruption of text,
the slovenly metre is not like Shakespeare's work, even when
he is most careless. The bombastic phraseology of the
sergeant Js^not like^ Shakespeare's language even when he is
most_bombastic. What is said of the Thane of Cawdor, lines
/ 54, 55, is inconsistent with what follows in scene iii. lines 72^
INTRODUCTION xix
y$ and 112 s^ We may add that Shakespeare's good sense
wouIS^ harHTy have tq]erated the absurdity of sending a
severely wounded soldier to carry the news of a victory," With
every word of the above, and chiefly for the reasons assigned,
I am in entire agreement ; and I think that even stronger
arguments against the genuineness of these scenes might easily
be adduced.
It was decidedly no part^ jof Shakespeare's scheme to m-
large on Macbeth's victories against Sueno and^lacdoiraiaJd ;
and scene ii. of the Folio is in fact nothing but an amplification,
iand an amplification by the interpolator from Shakespeare's
own authority, Holinshed, of scene iii. 90 sqq., where Ross
and Angus announce to Macbeth the kjngls reception of the
new&_,oX his success and of his title or "addition," viz. the
thaneship of Cawdor. It is very significant that in line 50
Duncan reads of Macbeth's " venture in the rebels' fight."
The posts "come as thick as hail. What dramatic necessity
was there for the absurd and ridiculous device of a verbal
report by the "bleeding captaine" (or sergeant)? I am quite
aware that "reads" in this passage may have, as it frequently
had in Elizabethan English, the inferential sense of guessing
or surmising ; but having regard to the expression in I. iii. 100,
t^^ poured them down before him," the ordinary sense seems
lessential. It is quite impossible also to get over or explain
the gross and staring inconsistency, staggering as it does even
Mr. E. K. Chambers, between what is said of the Thane of
Caw3or in lines 54, gg, and what follows in the autheiitic
portion of scene iii. lines 72, 73 and 112 sgq. Dr. Johnson's
remarks hereon are unanswerable, and well deserve to be quoted
at length. He says : " The incongruity of all the passages in
which the Thane of Cawdor is mentioned is very remarkable.
Ross and Angus bring the king an account of the battle, and
inform him that Norway, assisted by the Thane of Cawdor,
'gan a dismal conflict. It appears that Cawdor was taken
prisoner, for in the same scene the king commands his present
death. Yet though Cawdor was thus taken by Macbeth, in
arms against his king, when Macbeth is saluted, in scene iii.,
Thane of Cawdor, by the witches, he asks, 'How of Cawdor?
the Thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman,' and in
the next line considers the promises that he should be Cawdor
XX MACBETH
, and king as equally unlikely to be accomplished. How can
: Macbeth be ignorant of the state of the thane whom he has
jjust defeated and taken prisoner, or call him a prosperous
\gentleman who has forfeited his title and life by open rebellion?
I He cannot be supposed to dissemble, because nobody is present
but Banquo, who was equally acquainted with Cawdor's
treason. However, in the next scene his ignorance still con-
\ tinues ; and when Ross and Angus present him with his new
\ title, he cries out, ' The Thane of Cawdor lives, Why do you
{ dress,' etc. Ross and Angus, who were the messengers that
J informed the king of the assistance given by Cawdor to the
j invader, having lost, as well as Macbeth, all memory of what
•y^ they had so lately seen and related, make this answer, * Who
was the thane . . . have overthrown him' (see I. iii. 1 09-11 6).
Neither Rpss^knew what he had just reported, nor Macbeth
what he had just done. This seems not to be one of the faults
that are to be imputed to transcribers, since, though the incon-
sistency of Ross and Angus might be removed by supposing
that their names were erroneously inserted, and that only Ross
brought an account of the battle, and only Angus was sent to
Macbeth, yet the forgetfulness of Macbeth cannot be palliated,
since what he says cannot have been spoken by any other."
Indeed, to be quite perfect in this common-sense criticism,
Dr. Johnson had only to add that Shakespeare was not re-
sponsible for this gross and careless piece of incongruity.
When scene ii. is rejected, all inconsistency disappears. Even
Mr. E. K. Chambers (i^af(^^//^, "Warwick Shakespeare ") admits
the inconsistency and thinks that " confusion is more likely to
ff^ be due to compression than to interpolation." But why
assume "compression"? There is no ground for such as-
n sumption, and still less for the view, which is supported by
^ critics like Brandes and Craig, that the play has been much
" cut down " or that " many scenes are wanting."
Dr. Bradley {Shakespearean Tragedy, 1904, p. 467, note
AA) carefully considers this question of compression ; and he
thinks it not improbable that Macbeth, as we have it, is slightly
shorter than the play Shakespeare wrote. (l) His first ground
is that we have no quarto, and that generally where we have
a quarto or quartos we find them longer than the Folio text.
No doubt, but this argument is merely negative, and the sub-
INTRODUCTION xxi
ject of Macbeth simply did not admit of more lengthy treat-
ment than Shakespeare has allotted to it. In fact, all the
evidence, particularly with respect to the interpolations of the
" witch scenes," goes to show that the play was expanded and
not compressed. (2) Secondly, he thinks there are perhaps a
few signs of omission in our text (over and above the plentiful
signs of corruption), and he gives as an example the passage
^I. iv. 33-43, where, after thanking Macbeth and Banquo for
^ their victories, Duncan proceeds, by a rapid transition, to name
Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland ; and he thinks the matter,
^"considering its importance," is disposed of very briefly. But
surely, at this stage of the action, the elevation of Malcolm is
of comparatively small importance except as furnishing an
additional motive or incentive to Macbeth to commit a murder
which he had already pondered if not determined on. The
matter of primary importance for Shakespeare's purpose is
the announcement by the weird sisters of Macbeth's elevation.
And besides, Shakespeare himself disposes of the point, very
briefly, but sufficiently, when he makes Macbeth say (I. iv. 48-
50)-
"That is a step
On which I must fall down or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies."
Moreover, a very similar transition occurs at the end of
the play, vis. in V. vii. 92-94, where Malcolm "names" the,
first Earls of Scotland. (3) Dr. Bradley also instances the P
striking abruptness and brevity of the sentence in which
Duncan invites himself to Macbeth's castle ; but he himself
supplies the most effective answers to any argument in
favour of omissions when he remarks hereon that Shakes-
peare may have determined to sacrifice everything possible
to the effect of rapidity in the first act; that there is no
internal evidence of the_omiss[on_of anything essentiaLto
the plot ; that FojraaiT^^who saw^ the. play jni 610 mentions
in his MS. Book qfJPiaies.and Notes thereof^ nothing which
we do not find in our play ; and that it is only in the
first part of the play (the rest being full enough) that such
omissions could occur. And he also very aptly remarks
that anyone who wanted to cut the play down would have
xxii MACBETH
operated, say, on Macbeth's talk with Banquo's murderers, or
on III. vi. or on the very long dialogue of Malcolm and Mac-
duff, instead of reducing the most exciting part of the drama.
If I may say so, I entirely agree with Dr. Bradley in his view that
the play was always an extremely short one ; and, as above
mentioned, I think it was certainly shorter than the inter-
polated version as it stands in the Folio. Further, Dr. Bradley
thinks it possible, as Malone thought, and rightly, that the
V play was not composed originally for the public stage, but for
some private, perhaps royal, occasion, when time was limited ;
the presence of the passage about touching for the evil
(IV. iii. 140 sqq^ supporting this idea; that some of the scenes
{e.g. the " witch scenes " ^ and the battle scenes) would take
longer to perform than ordinary scenes of mere dialogue and
action ; and that a play like Macbeth, written in a kind of
fever heat from beginning to end, offering very little relief by
^ means of humorous or pathetic scenes, ought to be short and
would be unbearable if it lasted so long as Hamlet or Lear.
And Dr. Bradley might, in my opinion, have added another
argument, and probably not the least effective, viz. that the
/ subject, simple in itself, did not admit of more lengthy treat-
ment. Strong proof of this appears in the construction of the
fourth act, which is unduly lengthened in scenes ii. and iii. ;
' and even in Act III. itself. The scenes (iv. ii., iii.) seem to
have been composed with evident effort, as if Shakespeare
felt the necessity ©f stretching out his material to the ordinary
length of a five-act tragedy, and found lack of dramatic
material, which was certainly wanting in his authority,
Holinshed. Hence his introduction in Act V. of the famous
" sleep-walking scene " of Lady Macbeth, and the magni-
cently irrelevant soliloquies of the great protagonist himself.
But in truth this idea of compression is entirely gratuitous,
and no solid~g^round can be adduced in support of it. Shake-
speare would not be guilty of "compression" if it militated
against clearness. What dramatic necessity could there be
for "compression" in a play which was obviously found too
i short for public representation ; and, in the players' opinion at
any rate, had to be enlarged by the botching work of an
'This is only applicable to Act iv. scene i.
INTRODUCTION xxiii
interpolator? Nor is it a case of "explanatory links dropping
out," as Professor Herford (Introduction to Macbeth, p. 152)
puts it, but distinctly a case ofexcrescent links dropping in; it
points by no means to "compression," but to gross and care-
less interpolation ; even though the interpolation be the work
of a competent dramatist like Middleton, who was quite
capable of adding any number of "Shakespearian touches,"
if he so willed, and took sufficient pains, in dealing with the
work of Shakespeare.
With regard to the metre of Act I. scene ii., no adequate
reason can be assigned for the existence of the numerous/
faulty lines which deface it except sheer hasty and careless!
workmanship on the part of the interpolator ; for the printers
of the Folio could not, I am convinced, have blundered so
abominably in such a short scene. What other unadulterated
play of Shakespeare shows the like at its very commencement?
Besides, why should the printers have gone out of their way to
wreak a corruptive vengeance on this particular scene? Scene
ii. of Act III. is also corrupt in its text. But there we have
/merely verbal omissions, due, beyond doubt, only to some
.defect in the "copy." As for the phraseology, the mere
comparison jjf the bombastic and extravagant language with the
impressiy^_aiid dignified_authentic opening of the play^at the
entrance of Macbeth and Banquo, iii. 38 sqq.., ought to be
sufficient to convince any reader or hearer whose ear is not too
indurated or elongated for the adequate comprehension of
/Shakespeare's blank verse, that Shakespeare's hand never
rested here. Are we to believe for one moment that the
turgid bombast of lines 9-23, for example, immediately pre-
ceded the absolutely perfect and splendid versification of the
speeches of Macbeth and Banquo, and the latter'sin particular,
in scene iii. ? —
" My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal."
If so, the first act, as we find it in the Folio, was begun by
''Shakespeare drunk and continued by Shakespeare sober. Can
\it be believed that the mighty poet, at the height of his powers
jand in the perfection of his dramatic workmanship, started this
xxiv MACBETH
vimmortal work with the "swelling bombast" and bloody
^imagery of scene ii,,^ and followed this up with the trivial,
f ludicrous and dramatically impertinent " episode of the
("sailor's wife," only to cast them aside in the succeeding
polemn and impressive dialogue between Macbeth and Banquo
and the weird sisters? The truth of the matter is that the
interpolator, be he Middleton or Rowley or Wilkins, had
formed no adequate idea of the great conception of the weird
'' sisters. The opening lines {i.e. 1-37) of scene iii., as they stand
1 in the Folio, are dragged in for the purpose of exploiting a
Ij" witch scene" and of displaying some of the usual powers
attributed to " witches." Not that some of these lines are not
admirable lines in themselves, e.g. lines 19-26. As Professor
Herford (Introduction, p. 151) puts it, "verses otherwise
' stamped with genius jostle rudely with every canon of metre, and
the magnificent and inexhaustible poetry forces its way through
rdaring anomalies of speech." Exactly; only the verses are
not Shakespeare's and the anomalies are not Shakespeare's. It
seems to be forgotten by some commentators that Middleton,
, or in fact almost any other Elizabethan dramatist, was quite
capable of attaining to their level, and even of surpassing it.
The nervous and incisive diction to be found, for instance, in
the chief scenes of Middleton's Changelings will serve to uphold
the justice of this opinion. The minglingjDf different metres
too in this spurious part of scene iii. is not^in^hakespeare's
^ ( manner ; and having regard to the first entry of Macbeth and
Banquo, some of the expressions and stage directjons are
clumsily introduced. For example, line 30 mentions a drum.
It is quite clear that, as Holinshed also states (" they went
sporting by the way togither, without other companie save only
themselves"), Macbeth and Banquo were, on their entry,
journeying on horseback alone and unattended. They did
not "Enter," as usual, "with drum and colours." (Compare
V. V. init^. They simply " Enter." In the face of Forman's
account it is idle to say that Shakespeare himself may have
"^1 introduced the "drum." I doubt if he was responsible for any
of the stage directions of the Folio, which would naturally be
iThe schoolboy epithet of " bluggj-," which has been applied to some
recent romances of "slaughter grim and great," exactly expresses the reeking
atmosphere of this scene.
INTRODUCTION xxv
left by him to the stage management ; and some of which no
doubt were introduced subject to his advice. Again, line 37
speaks of "the charm." No "charm" was necessary here,
and Shakespeare never intended any : the idea of a " charm "
and the number "thrice" being transparently conveyed by the
interpolator from IV. i. in the effort to give a touch of reality
to a "witch scene."
As to II. iii. 1-22, commonly called "the Porter's scene,"
I see no valid reason for rejecting it. Coleridge's well-known
criticism has not been generally accepted, and rightly so. He
says : "This low soliloquy of the Porter and his few speeches
afterwards I believe to have been written for the mob by some
other hand, perhaps with Shakespeare's consent ; and that,
finding it take, he with the remaining ink of a pen otherwise
employed just interpolated the words ' I '11 devil-porter it . . .
everlasting bonfire.' Of the rest, not one syllable has the
ever-present being of Shakespeare." On this Professor Raleigh
remarks {Shakespeare, 1907, p. 5): "This is the very ecstasy
of criticism, and sends us back to the cool and manly utter-
ances of Dryden, Johnson, and Pope with a heightened sense
of the value of moderation and candour." The Clarendon
editors consider this scene to have been interpolated by
Middleton, and they think it to be "strangely out of place
amidst the tragic horrors which surround it." But the porter
undoubtedly belongs to the family of Shakespeare's "fools,"
though not j)erhaps to the highest class. It would seem as if
the supreme playwright in h[m felt the vital necessity of some
adequate relief from the awful tension of the murder scene,
that he acted up to this necessity and composed the scene,
hurriedly perhapsj and, whjlsJLCpncedjn^ something to the
"groundlings," with a keen anxiety to get oa with the main
action of the play7~ None the less too did the practical
playwright in him feel the dramatic necessity of allowing
time for Macbeth to retire, change his dress and recover hisj
composure. The scene has been so adequately defended by'
De Quincey in his famous essay On the Knocking at the Gate\
in Macbeth {Works, 1863, vol. xiii. p. 192), and also by Hales
in his Notes and Essays on Shakespeare, 1884, that it is un-
necessary and almost impossible to adduce any new argument
in support of its authenticity.
xxvi MACBETH
It may be well, however, to remind the reader of the five
points submitted by the latter essayist " as to whether the
porter is not, after all, a genuine offspring of Shakespeare's
art." (i) The porter's speech is an integral part of the play.
(2) It is necessary as a relief to the surrounding horror. (3)
It is necessary according to the law of contrast elsewhere
obeyed. (4) The speech we have is dramatically relevant.
(5) Its style and language are Shakespearian.
Act III. scene v. and Act iv. scene i. 39-43 and 125-132
are universally condemned as spurious, and justly so. It has
already been mentioned that these scenes contain^tage direc-
tions fo£jtwo songs which are found in The Witch and in
Davenantjsj/ersion of 1674 ; they can be eliminated from the
text without leaving the least trace of their presence ; and above
all, they contain lines and sentiments utterly alien to and^ in-
congruous witji die atmosphere of the two great scenes of the
weird sisters (l. iii. and IV. i,)^ Shakespeare had no needXox the
utterly superfluous character of Hecate in the working out of his
simple conception of Macbeth's temptation and ultimate ruin
by the instrumentality of the weird sisters. " The instru-
ments of darkness " tell Macbeth truths in the third scene of
Act I. only to betray him in deepest consequence in the great
first scene of Act IV., and this is the whole scope and purport of
the tragedy. What had " a wayward son, spiteful and wrath-
ful " loving " for his own ends " to do with the brave general of
Duncan? Why should Shakespeare's dignified sisters dance
" like elves and fairies in a ring"? Again, if the "charm"
were " firm and good " (1. 38), why should further enchantment
be necessary? (1. 43). Why should Macbeth's "sprites" want
" cheering up " by the performance of an " antic round " ?
(1. 130). Finally, the iambic rhythm of these passages is not
in accord with the trochaic movement of the remaining (and
authentic) portions of Act IV. scene i.
I see no reason for suspecting, with the Clarendon editors,
what is commonly called the "king's evil" scene, IV. iii. 140-
I 59. The vocabulary, the style, and the rhythm are absolute
Shakespeare ; and the inclusion of the passage is exactly what
we should expect from the author of the magnificent compli-
ment to Elizabeth in A Midsummer Night's Dream, in a drama
like Macbeth, written, beyond doubt, for production at Court,
INTRODUCTION xxvii
and by a player of the King's company. 1 believe the
passage was part of the original draft of the play, written
specially for a Court representation, and if this were not so
and it were afterwards added, then I believe it was added by
Shakespeare himself
Nor is it necessary to suspect anything in Act v. I can-
not find, as the Clarendon editors do, any " singular weak-
ness" in V. V. 47-50, although perhaps Shakespeare himself
might, on a revision, have struck out the lines. Nor do I find,
as the same editors do, that the last forty lines^ of the play
show a hand other than Shakespeare's. No reliance is to Be
/placed on the evidence of a stage direction; and the double
A stage directions '' Exeunt fighting — Enter fighting, and Mac-
\beth slain" prove nothing more than that the stage arrange-
\jments of this act, whether contemplated by the dramatist or
j not, may have been modified from time to time by stage
' managers before the printing of the Folio in 1623. In V. vii.
61, 62, the words "Before my body I throw my warlike
shield " certainly do contain a suggestion of bombast, at least
to modern ears, but I think not necessarily so to Elizabethans ;
and the true explanation of their presence may be that which
is suggested in the notes ad loc.
" Shakespeare," say the Clarendon editors, " who has
inspired his audience with pity for Lady Macbeth, and made
them feel that her guilt has been almost absolved by the
. terrible retribution which followed, would not have disturbed
/this feeling by calling her a 'fiend-like queen' (v. vii. 99);
/ nor would he have drawn away the veil which with his fine
tact he had dropt over her fate by telling us that she had
taken off her life by 'self and violent hands' (100). But
surely Malcolm's conception of Lady Macbeth no more
expresses the conception which Shakespeare intended to con-
vey to his hearers than, for example, Roderigo's abuse of
Othello as ' thick-lips ' {Othello, I. i. 66) conveys the concep-
tion of Othello as a pure negro instead of an Arab or
Mauretanian."
Such are the arguments in support of the theory of the
interpolation of Shakespeare's work. Neither Heminge nor
Condell, nor the promoters, nor, least of all, the printers of
the Folio, would be concerned to interfere with or in any way
X.
xxviii MACBETH
to re-edit the MS. in 1623, or to question the authenticity of
. any part as not being the work of Shakespeare. The MS.
I would simply be set up as it stood ; and if so, and I submit
\that it is quite impossible that it should be otherwise, then we
jshall not be far wrong in assuming, in exact accordance with
?"orman's account, that the authentic play begins at I. iii. 38.
The simple explanation of the introduction of the antecedent
scenes of 118 lines would seem to be that after the play be-
:ame popular, it was discovered that the " characters " of the
^ ^ Weird sisters might be exploited to more advantage for specta-
cular purposes ; and that when the interpolator was entrusted
by the King's company with the re-handling of the play his
chief aim was to expand Shakespeare's weird sister scenes
jJ^' ' " and to lower their tone to the comprehension of the grosser
public appetite for spectacle and sensation. It was not diffi-
cult for him to prefix the first 37 lines of scene iii. as it stands
in the Folio ; but in doing so he destroyed the solemnity and
umpressiveness of Shakespeare's own opening lines by the
lintroduction of the ludicrous and impertinent episode of the
"sailor" and his "wife." In order to work in another "witch
scene," or rather, perhaps, to divide his introductory " witch
scene " into two parts, the interpolator referred to the only
,authority, Holinshed (just as Shakespeare had done) ; and
there, and in Shakespeare's own account by Ross and Angus,
^ he found enough material for the amplification of scene ii,
jwhich he sandwiched in, so to speak, between scenes i. and iii.
In exactly similar fashionht introduced another " witch scene"
{viz. III. V.) before scene vi. of Act III., so as to lead up to
the great cauldron scene of Act IV.; scene vi. necessarily
coming between to separate them. It is a striking fact that
the interpolator does not presume to interfere with any other
part of the play — certainly not with the great scenes in which
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth appear, or with the later scenes
^,^ of Act IV., or with Act v. His interpolations are introduced
^:^, solely with reference to the two scenes in zvhich the weird sisters
^appear.
This, I submit, is a clear and definite account of the inter-
polator's probable method of procedure, and entirely substan-
\ tiates the theory that Shakespeare's own play was not interfered
V I with to any greater extent than was necessary for the immedi-
*^
INTRODUCTION xxix
ate purpose in hand, i.e. to render Macbeth a more spectacular-
and therefore a more popular draw by the extension and
amplification of the scenes originally allotted by Shakespeare j ^
to his weird sisters. This purpose was effected by the simple | -<^
expedient of prefixing a " witch scene " to each of the two ' ^
scenes in which (and in which only) the "weird sisters" ap- /
pear. Even the hint for the dances of "the witches" in the J
interpolated lines 39-47 and 125-132 of Act IV. scene i. is ob-
tained from Shakespeare's own words, " Round about the
cauldron go " (line 4). Shakespeare, I am convinced, never
intended this " round " of his weird sisters to be anything but
slow, dignified, and impressive ; the interpolator degraded it '
into the "antic" performance of " elves and fairies in a ring."
Leaving textual matters for the moment the next important
question relating to the play is the date of its composition.
The date of the Folio imprint is, of course, no index to the
date of composition or of first production on the stage. This
is now almost universally assigned, and beyond doubt cor-
rectly, to the year 1606. It is well known that Shakespeare's
sole authority for the chief events of the tragedy was The
Chronicles of English and Scottish History compiled by
Raphael Holinshed, and first published in 1577. A second
edition, which Shakespeare probably used, was published in
1587. Apart from this, the first actual reference in Shake-
speare's own time to the subject appears to be an entry in the
Stationers' Register, dated August 27, 1 596, of Thomas
Millington being "likewyse fyned at ijs vjd for printinge of a
ballad conVciAxyo. to order . . , Md. the ballad entituled The
taming of a shrew. Also one other Ballad of Macdobeth."
It is possible, therefore, that this entry may refer to an older
interlude or drama of some kind on the subject of Macbeth ;
but probably it was merely a kind of simple story or interlude
accompanied by dances, perhaps in the manner of the interludes
in Greene's King James the Fourth. The comedian Kempe, in
his Nine dales Wonder, 1600, an account of his morris dance
to Norwich (ed. Dyce, Camd. Soc, 1840, p. 21), has a some-
what obscure reference to this " ballad " subject : " I met a
proper vpright yovth, onely for a little stooping in the
shoulders, all hart to the heele, a penny Poet, whose first mak-
ing was the miserable stoln story of Macdoel or Macdobeth or
XXX MACBETH
Macsomewhat, for I am sure a Mac it was though I never had
the maw to see it " ; and he proceeds to advise its author to
" leave writing these beastly ballets, make not good wenches
prophetesses for little or no profit." The expression " to see
it" would seem to refer to a public representation of some
kind, and the mention of "good wenches" as "prophetesses"
to the weird sisters of the tragedy. But it was beyond question
the accession of James I. in 1603 which directed the attention
of the purveyors of stage plays to Scottish affairs. Farmer,
in his Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare (3rd ed. p, 56, 1 789),
was the first, I believe, to refer to King James's visit to Ox-
ford in 1605, when he was met and addressed on his entry by
three students of St. John's College, who alternately accosted
him, reciting Latin verses evidently founded on the predictions
of the weird sisters relating to Macbeth and Banquo, and
thence to infer that Shakespeare may have got the hint for his
play from that source.J Versions of this interlude are given
(i) by Sir Isaac Wake, the diplomatist, in his Rex Platonicus
(Oxford, 1607), a description in Latin of the king's entertain-
ment at Oxford in 1605, referred to by Farmer in his Essay ;
(2) in a MS. account of the visit in the Museum (MSS. Baker,
7044) ; and (3) in Anthony Nixon's Oxford Triumph, 40 1605.
It is quite within the bounds of probability that the news
of this Oxford interlude should have reached the ears of the
King's company, and that Shakespeare should have been
induced to take up the subject of Macbeth for the theme of a
tragedy. Malone reminds us that in July, 1606, the King of
Denmark came to England on a visit to his sister Queen Anne,
a visit which was the occasion of many court festivities, and
that perhaps during this visit Macbeth was first exhibited. I
think this is extremely probable, and that Shakespeare wrote
the play under pressure of time and for a special court per-
formance, availing himself of the opportunity of introducing
his allusions to the Scottish king's descent from the latter's
alleged ancestor Banquo, and also introducing what is usually
termed the "king's evil" scene (IV. iii. 140-159).
Malone (see the Variorum of 1821, vol. ii. p. 407) also
adduces various "notes of time," as he calls them, occurring
in Act II. scene iii., which appear to him strongly to confirm the
date 1606. {a) The expression " Here 's a farmer that hanged
INTRODUCTION xxxi
himself in the expectation of plenty" (1. 4) would seem to
refer to the abundant harvest of that year, " The price of
wheat," says Malone, referring to the audit books of Eton
College, " was lower in that year than it was for thirteen years
afterwards, being 33s. the quarter. In the preceding year
(1605), as well as in the subsequent year (1607) it was 2s. a
quarter dearer. In 1608 wheat was sold at Windsor market
for 56s. 8d. a quarter; and in 1609 for 50s. In 1606 barley
and malt were considerably cheaper than in the two years
subsequent." {b) The expression in 1. 9, " Faith here 's an
equivocator that could swear," etc., beyond question alludes
to the doctrine of equivocation avowed by Henry Garnet,
superior of the order of Jesuits in England on his trial for the
gunpowder treason on the 28th of March, 1606, which must
have attracted universal public attention, and to his " swearing
on both the scales against either scale," i.e. directly contradict-
ing himself on oath. Malone might also have referred to the
later prophecies of the weird sisters in Act IV., which Macbeth
in his desperation characterises (V. v. 43) as " the equivocation
of the fiend That lies like truth " ; and also to the dialogue
between Lady Macduff and her son (iv. ii. 46), "What is a
traitor? . . . and must be hanged." (c) Again, the phrase
" here 's an English tailor come hither for stealing out of a
French hose," in 1. 14, points, as Warburton remarked, to the
fact that the French hose were then very short and strait, and
that a tailor must be a master of his trade who could steal
anything from them. French fashions were quickly adopted
in England. Compare Hamlet, I. iii. 72 : " For the apparel
oft proclaims the man, And they" in France of the best rank
and station," etc. — and the following passage in Anthony
Nixon's Black Year, 1606, shows that this fashion had been
then adopted : " Gentlemen this year shall be much wronged
by their taylers, for their consciences are now much larger
than ever they were, for where they were wont to steale but
half a yard of brood cloth in making up a payre of breeches,
now they do largely nicke their customers in the lace too, and
take more than enough for the new fashions sake, besides their
old ones." Further, the celebrated passage in IV. i. 121 :
"That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry," as Warburton
pointed out, was intended as a compliment to King James the
xxxii MACBETH
First, who first united the two islands and the three kingdoms
under one head. See the note ad loc. cit. for the style and
title assumed by James after October 24, 1604. The mention
of an event of such importance would lose no point in 1606.
The so-called "king's evil" scene, IV, iii. 140-159, is a direct
and unabashed compliment to King James, and was beyond
question written and inserted by Shakespeare himself, though
it is merely excrescent on the action of the play. It is possible
that Shakespeare, in speaking of " the succeeding royalty," may
have remembered the passage in Camden's Remaines, 1605
(quoted by Chalmers), " that admirable gift hereditary to the
anointed princes of this realm in curing the king's evil."
Such are the chief references antecedent to 1606 which
have mainly induced critics and commentators to assign the
composition of Macbeth to that year. But certafn references
in subsequent years are also of importance in confirming that
date.
William Warner (1558?- 1609) added an account of the
Historie of Macbeth to the new edition of his Albion s England
(first published in 1586) which appeared late in 1606. It is
hardly possible to ascertain definitely whether this addition
was made subsequently or previously to the appearance of
Macbeth — I think it was subsequently because it is much more
probable that Warner had seen the play than that Shakespeare
had read the new edition — but in either event, the production
oi Macbeth and the 1606 edition of Warner's work lie extremely
close together.
In the comedy of The Puritaine ay The Widdow of Watling
Sireete, 1607, in which Marston, and not Middleton, must have
had no inconsiderable hand, amongst other parodies and imita-
tions of this and other plays of Shakespeare, there is a clear
reference, first pointed out by Farmer, in IV. iii. 89, to the
ghost of Banquo, when Sir Godfrey Plus says of one of the
characters. Corporal Oath, masquerading as a "corpes" in a
coffin, " and in stead of a lester, weele ha the ghost ith white
sheete sit at vpper end a' th Table." This is probably the
earliest reference to Shakespeare's play after its production.
Malone also mentions certain other indications of date,
vis. (i) the following lines in the Tragedy of Ccesar and Pom-
pey, or CcBsar's Revenge, 1607 : —
INTRODUCTION xxxiii
'* Why, think you, lords, that 'tis ambition's spur
That pricketh Caesar to these high attempts ? " —
as a probable imitation of Macbeth's soliloquy in I. vii. 25-27 ;
and (2) two passages in the life of Antony in North's Plutarch,
which he has introduced into Macbeth, viz. in I. iii. 84, and
III. i. 55 ; [a) at p. 932 (ed. 1631) : " In the end they \i.e. the
Roman soldiers in Parthia] were compelled to Hue of hearbs
and roots, but they found few of them that men do commonly
eate of, and were enforced to taft of them that were neuer
eaten before: among the which, there was one that killed
them, and made them out of their wits. For he that had
once eaten of it, his memory went from him, and he knew no
manner of thing, but onely bufied himfelf in digging and hurl-
ing of ftones from one place to another " ; (^) at page 926
(ed. 1631): "With Antonius there was a Soothfayer or
Aftronomer of ^Egypt, that could caft a figure, and iudge of
mens natiuities, to tell them what fhould happen to them.
He either to pleafe Cleopatra, or elfe for that he found it fo by
his art, told Antonius plainly, that his fortune (which of it felfe
was excellent good, and very great), was altogether blemiflied
and obfcured by Ccesars fortune : and therefore he counfelled
him vtterly to leaue his company and to get him as far from
him as he could. For thy Demon, faid he, (that is to fay, the
good angell and Spirit that keepeth thee) is afraid of his ; and
being couragious and high when he is alone, becometh fearfull
and timorous when he cometh neare vnto the other." From
these passages it may with reason be inferred that Shakespeare
was engaged in reading the life of Antony in North's Plutarch
shortly before the composition of Macbeth.
Daniel seems to imitate Macbeth, I. v. 64, and III. ii. 27, in
a passage in the 8th book of his Civil Wars, 1609 : —
" He draws a traverse 'twixt his grievances,
Looks like the time ; his eye made not report
Of what he felt within ; . . .
Wore a clean face upon a cloudy heart.''
Next, we have the well-known and oft-quoted account by
Dr. Simon Forman of the performance of Macbeth, witnessed
by him at the Globe Theatre in April, 16 10. This was cer-
tainly Shakespeare's play, as the points of similarity between
it and this account of Forman's are too striking to leave room
xxxiv MACBETH
for any intelligible doubt on the matter. Forman was a
quack physician of Lambeth who {inter alia) practised as an
astrologer and fortune-teller, but eventually succeeded in ob-
taining a licence to practise physic from Cambridge University,
and died in 1611. He left, among other MSS., a record of
certain plays which he had seen acted, styled The Booke of
Plaies and Notes therof per formans for Common Pollicie, i.e.
as affording useful lessons in the common affairs of life, now
preserved in the Bodleian Library (Ashmolean MSS. 208).
His account of Macbeth is as follows : —
" In Mackbeth at the glod [i.e. glob], i6jo, the 20 of Aprill,
ther was to be obserued, firste, howe mackbeth and Bancko,
2 noble vaen of Scotland, Ridinge thorowe a wod, the[r] stode
before them 3 women feiries or Nimphes, And saluted
Mackbeth, sayinge 3 tyms vnto him, haille mackbeth, king of
Codon ; for thou shalt be a kinge, but shall beget No kinge,
&c. then said Bancko, what all to mackbeth And nothing to
me. Yes, said the nimphes, haille to thee Banko, thou shalt
beget king^j-, yet be no kinge. And so they departed &
cam to the courte of Scotland to Dunkin king of Scot^j-, and
yt was in the dais of Edward the Confessor. And Dunkin
bad them both kindly wellcome. And made Mackbeth forth
with Prince of Northumberland, and sent him hom to his own
castell, and appointed mackbeth to prouid for him, for he wold
Sup with him the next dai at night, & did soe. And macke-
beth contrived to kull Dumkin, & thorowe the persuasion of
his wife did that night Murder the kinge in his own Castell,
beinge his gueste. And ther were many prodigies seen that
night & the dai before. And when MackBeth had murdered
the kinge, the blod on his hand^i" could not be washed of by
any means, nor from his wiues hand^j, \whic]\ handled the
bloddi daggers in hiding them, By which means they became
both moch amazed and affronted, the murder being knowen,
Dunkins 2 sonns fled, the on to England, the [other to]
Walles, to saue them selues. They beinge fled, they were
supposed guilty ot the murder of their father, which was
nothinge so. Then was Mackbeth crowned kinge, and then
he for feare of Banko, his old companion, that he should beget
king^j- but be no kinge him selfe, he contriued the death of
Banko, and caused him to be Murdred on the way as he Rode,
INTRODUCTION xxxv
The next night, being at supper wzth his noble men whom he
had bid to a feaste to the w^;che also Bamco should haue
com, he began to speake of Noble Banco, and to wish that he
wer then And as he thus did, standing vp to drincke a
Carouse to him, the ghoste of Banco came and sate down in
his cheier be-hind him. And he turninge About to sit down
A-gain sawe the goste of banco, which fronted him so, that he
fell in-to a great passion of fear and fury, Vtteringe mamy
[many] word^i- about his murder, by w>^/ch, when they hard
that Banco was Murdred they Suspected Mackbet.
" Then MackDove fled to England to the king^j- sonn. And
soe they Raised an Army, And cam into Scotland, and at
dunston Anyse overthrue mackbet. In the meam [mean] tyme
whille macdouee was in England, Mackbet slewe Mackdoues
wife & children, and after in the battelle mackdoue slewe
mackbet.
" Obserue Also howe Mackbet^j- quen did Rise in the night
in her slepe, & walke and talked and confessed all, & the
docter noted her wordes."
The year 1610 is therefore the extreme limit of date in
which the play could possibly have been produced for the first
time. The Clarendon editors are of opinion (Introduction to
Macbeth, 1869, p. vii) that "in all probability it was then
a new play, otherwise he [Forman] would scarcely have been
at the pains to make an elaborate summary of its plot." But
having regard to the facts already stated, and particularly to
the above-mentioned reference to The Puritan, 1607, this
opinion cannot be supported. It may, indeed, in 16 10 have
been a comparatively new play, not yet witnessed by Forman,
assuming that it was originally produced, as was almost cer-
tainly the case, at a Court performance in 1606, and between
that date and 1610 " neuer stal'd with the Stage, neuer clapper-
clawd with the palmes of the vulger." (Compare the preface
to Troilus and Cressida, 1609.) Besides, even if it had been pro-
duced on the public stage long prior to 161 o, Forman, with
every opportunity of seeing the play before that date, for many
reasons may not have troubled to do so.
Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burni?ig Pestle,
161 1, V. i. 23-26, seems to contain another clear allusion to
Banquo's ghost : —
xxxvi MACBETH
" When thou art at thy table with thy friends,
Merry in heart, and filled with swelling wine,
I '11 come in midst of all thy pride and mirth.
Invisible to all men but thyself " ;
and Steevens points out Webster's imitation of Macbeth, V, i. in
his Vittoria Corombona, 1612, V. i. : —
" Here's a white hand,
Can blood so soon be washed ? "
The cumulative force of the above-mentioned references
enables us with reasonable assurance to assign the composition
of Macbeth to the year 1 606; and in all probability to the
summer or early autumn of that year.
The evidence of style and versification points to the same
conclusion. It is impossible within the limits of this Intro-
duction to furnish any argument on the tests which are usually
applied to determine the date of any particular play : it need
only be stated that with regard to the four great tragedies
which admittedly come near each other in point of time,
Hamlet, Othello, Lear, and Macbeth, the chief tests usually
applied, viz. (a) the speech-ending test, (b) the overflow test,
and (t) the light and weak-ending test, entirely confirm the
evidence from all other sources that Macbeth was the last com-
posed of the four, and that the style is transitional between
these and the latest plays, beginning with Antony and Cleo-
patra.
As already remarked, Shakespeare's sole authority for the
chief events of the tragedy was the well-known Chronicles of
English and Scottish History compiled by Raphael Holinshed
and first published in 1577. A second edition was published
in 1587, with a more modernised text and containing addi-
tional passages. This latter was probably the edition used by
Shakespeare (see the Preface to Boswell-Stone's extracts).
His narrative of Macbeth is taken from the twelfth book of the
Scotorum Historiae o{ YiQCtor Boece (1465-1536), Principal of
King's College, Aberdeen, a "history" which comprised much
that is fabulous as well as historical, and much that is taken
from Fordun, who flourished in the last quarter of the
14th century, and wrote a Chronica Gentis Scotoruni (see
Skene's edition, 1871). Shakespeare did not find much to
alter in Holinshed's story of Macbeth, but he did not treat it
INTRODUCTION xxxvii
as historical, nor does he restrict himself to following in con-
tinuous fashion the narrative of the Chronicle, In particular,
for the murder of Duncan he adopts in many of its details and
incidents Holinshed's narrative of the murder of King Dufife
by Donwald, who had conceived a hatred against the king,
owing to the execution of some of Donwald's kinsmen for
participation in sorcery against the king, and whose wife
counselled him to the murder. In this part of the Chronicle
also Shakespeare found warrant for Duncan's presence as a
guest in Macbeth's castle ; Lady Macbeth's instigation of the
murder ; the king's drunken chamberlains and their slaughter
by Macbeth ; and the suspicions caused by his over-acted
horror on the discovery of the crime. Shakespeare also prob-
ably got the hint for Macbeth's remorse from still another
part of the Chronicle, namely the story of King Kenneth III.,
who had secretly poisoned his nephew Malcolm. After the
murder of Duncan and the flight of Malcolm and Donalbain,
the Chronicler represents Macbeth as an able and vigorous
ruler for the space of ten years out of the seventeen during
which his I reign lasted; whilst he enacted many "wholesome
laws and statutes." This, of course, dramatic exigencies forbade ^
Shakespeare to enter into. Holinshed goes on to narrate how
Macbeth's guilty conscience urges him on to the murder of
Banquo and his son. Nothing prospers with Macbeth after
this murder; "every man began to doubt his own life."
Macbeth causes the thanes of each shire to superintend the
building of his new castle of Dunsinane, Macduff refuses to
attend and resolves to go to England and invite Malcolm to
claim the crown. Macduff's meeting with him is freely para-
phrased by Shakespeare in the long scene iii. of Act iv. Fjip
the digression commonly called the "king's evil" scene
(IV. iii. 140-159) Shakespeare probably turned to Holinshed's \y^
first volume, the History of England, where an account of
Edward the Confessor's miraculous gifts is to be found. Many
of the succeeding passages illustrate the last act oi Macbeth, of
course with the exception of the sleep-walking scene, which is
wholly Shakespeare's invention. So, too, is the dialogue on
the entry of Duncan into Macbeth's castle, the dagger scene,
the Porter's scene, Macbeth's dialogue with the murderers, the
banquet scene with its introduction of Banquo's ghost, the
xxxviii MACBETH
great incantation scene of Act IV., the conversation between
Lady Macduff and her son, the wonderful speeches of Macbeth
to the doctor, and to Seyton on the death of the queen during
his last despairing stand against Malcolm and Macduff The
extracts from the Chronicles bearing on the plot of Macbeth
may be found reprinted in almost t.\Qry school edition of the
play ; and there are many specific references to Holinshed to
be found in the notes on particular passages of the play.
With regard to the construction and general characteristics
of the tragedy, the construction is outlined with great boldness
and simplicity. The first three acts are the natural outcome
of Macbeth's first encounter with the weird sisters ; the last
two are the like outcome of the second and chief meeting
with them, viz. in the great incantation scene of Act IV. Thus
the play naturally divides itself into two parts, each prefaced
by an appearance of the weird sisters, (i) the temptation of
Macbeth with the fatal "consequence" of the murders of
Duncan and Banquo, (2) his confirmation in the "bloody
bold and resolute " course which ends in his final doom. Hence
the supreme importance of the supernatural element.
As in Hamlet, it is the fascination of the supernatural
which explains in some measure the popularity of Macbeth,
and raises the play to the height of dramatic sublimity. But this
tragedy has in addition its own characteristics. It is much the
shortest of the tragedies, as Hamlet is the longest. In its
language we find those elements of compression, energy, rapi-
dity, ruggedness, and even violence which are, speaking gener-
ally, absent from Hamlet. The two great characters are drawn
on an almost superhuman scale. What one critic has aptly
called "the solemn majesty of the ghost," in Hajnlet, appearing
in armour and standing silent in the moonlight at Elsinore is
exchanged for the weird sisters, shapes of horror dimly seen
in storm and tempest, or revealed by the glare of the cauldron
fire in their dark cavern. It is exchanged for the ghastly
^ face of the " blood-boltered " Banquo, smiling on his murderer
and pointing in triumph at his successor kings. The action
V of the play is almost fiery in its speed, hurrying on through
the five brief scenes of the first Act to the great crisis of the
murder of Duncan at the beginning of Act II. ; then, with
gathering force to the murder of Banquo in Act III. ; and only
INTRODUCTION xxxix
pausing at the peaceful Court of Edward the Confessor to
return to the final scenes which seal the doom of Macbeth.
As already remarked, the play is the shortest of the great
tragedies ; but it does not give us any impression or feeling of
brevity, but rather one of concentrated speed. As we peruse
it or see it acted we almost feel as if the greyness of a Scottish
moor and the mist and darkness of the Scottish atmosphere
had settled down on the scenes. Most of these — at any rate
most of the effective dramatic scenes — take place at night or
in the dark. The fateful vision of the air-drawn dagger, the
murder of Duncan, the murder of Banquo, the famous sleep-
walking scene all take place at night. Lady Macbeth is fearful
of the darkness and has light by her continually. When she
speaks of the place of anticipated torment for her guilty and
tortured soul, she uses the fearful expression, "Hell is murky."
The weird sisters appear to Macbeth first in thunder and
mist (I. iii.), and secondly in the gloom of a dark cavern (IV. i.).
When the murder of Duncan is accomplished and the next
day arrives, its light is " strangled " and darkness entombs the
face of the earth. On the other hand, the darkness is not
unrelieved. The play gives us also an impression of colour,
but this is the colour of blood. The ideas and imagery of
blood seem facing us continually. Putting aside the absurd
episode of the "bleeding sergeant" and his gory romance of
Macbeth's prowess in battle, we have Lady Macbeth praying
the ill spirits to make thick her blood and stop up the access
of remorse. We have the daggers of Duncan's unfortunate
grooms " unmannerly breeched with gore " ; their faces smeared ;
the skin of the murdered king "laced" with his blood; the
murderer of Banquo appearing at the door of the banquet room
with "blood upon his face"; we have Banquo the "blood-
boltered " ; we have Macbeth gazing on his bloody hands and
Lady Macbeth ceaselessly rubbing hers to escape the smell of
blood. And finally, as an eminent critic has put it, the most
horrible lines in the whole tragedy are those of her shuddering
and tortured cry: "Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him?" It is, says Dr. Bradley,
" as if the poet saw the whole story through an ensanguined
misj:, and as if it stained the very blackness of the night."
But the most potent agency in connection with the atmos-
xl MACBETH
phere of the tragedy is the influence of the weird sister scenes
on the imagination, and I think Shakespeare so intended
it. We have now to deal with his conception of the weird
sisters, as the primary supernatural machinery of the tragedy.
Shakespeare never throughout the whole course of the
tragedy calls these, his beings of " metaphysical aid," by the
term "witches."^ Throughout they are dignified, impressive,
sexless beings, ministers of fate and the supernatural powers ;
just as he read of them in Holinshed as "women," "sisters,"
"weird sisters" and "ye Goddesses of destinie or els some
Nimphes or Feiries endewed [al. indued] with knowledge of
prophesie by their Nicromanticall science": and just as
Holinshed found them in Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of
Scotland, vi. i8. 17-26 {circ. 1424): —
He thowcht, quhile he wes swa sythand,
He sawe thre Wemen by gangend ;
And ]5ai Wemen J^an thowcht he
Thre Werd Systrys mast lyk to be.
J»e fyrst he hard say gangand by,
Lo yhondyr \^ Thayne of Crombawchty.
]?e tol^ir Woman sayd agayne,
Of Moraye yhondyre I se \z Thayne.
■jje )>ryd ]?an sayd, " I se ]?e Kyng."
Al \'\% he herd in hys dremyng.
Shakespeare's weird sisters are essentially and wholly distinct
from Middleton's " witches " or those of any other contempo-
rary dramatist. But for his dramatic purposes he thought
fit to endow them with such external resemblance to the
witches of vulgar imagination as to be readily appreciated by
his theatrical audiences. The hint for this he also found in
Holinshed. After the death of Banquo, Macbeth is warned by
"certeine wizzards in whose words he put great confidence,
(for that the prophesie had happened so right which the three
faries or Weird Sisters had declared vnto him) how that he
ought to take heed of Makdufife" (Hoi. II. Hist. Scot. 174).
He becomes careless of compassing Macduff's death when "a
certeine witch, whom hee had in great trust had told him that
he should neuer be slaine with man born of anie woman, nor
^"Witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's offerings" (ri. i. 51) ; and "black
Hecate's summons" (ni. ii. 41) are merely references to night, and have nothing
to do with the scheme of the tragedy.
INTRODUCTION xli
vanquished till the wood of Bernane came to the castell of
Dunsinane" {ibid.). Shakespeare utilised this hint to the
full : but nevertheless it cannot be too strongly insisted on
that his supernatural beings are not " witches." They are
the " weird sisters " in I. v. 8 (Macbeth's letter) ; II. i. 20 ; III
iv. 133; IV. i. 136; •' weird women " in III. i. 2; and "the
sisters," simply, in III. i. 56, — all exactly as he found in
Holinshed. It is quite immaterial that they may be or are
called "witches," or are merely labelled with numbers in the
stage directions of the Folio.
This may have been by Shakespeare's own direction, or it
may not ; I think not : but in any case it does not affect his
text. He therein describes the sisters as wild in their attire,
of withered feature and unearthly appearance, bearded, and
with chappy \i.e. wrinkled] fingers and skinny lips (I. iii. 40,
41, 44, 45, 46). They have power to vanish into the air (l. iii,
79 ; V. 5; IV. i. 133). They are prophetesses and can look
into the future (l. iii. 59, 78) ; and have more in them than
mortal knowledge (I. v. 2) ; they are the instruments of dark-
ness (I. iii. 124); of fate and metaphysical \i.e. supernatural]
aid (I. V. 29) ; and are thus able to raise apparitions — their
" master spirits " (IV. i. 6-^) ; the spirits that know all mortal
consequence (V. iii. 4); the fiends that lie like truth (v. v. 43);
the juggling fiends (v. vii. 48). On the other hand Shake-
speare bestows on them some of those characteristic powers and
attributes of mortal " witches " which were part of the demon-
ology of his time. They have as " familiars " the cat, the hedge-
pig and the somewhat mysterious " Harpie " (IV. i. i, 2, 3).
They raise a "charm" from ghastly ingredients in a cauldron
(IV. i. passim) ; one of which is witches' mummy (which would
seem to imply that mere earthly witches were creatures of a
lower grade) ; they ride on the air (IV. i. 138); they can untie
the winds, raise waves, lay corn, blow down trees and overturn
castles and palaces (iv. i. 52-57). These may be assumed to
be the attributes of the sisters as we find them in Shakespeare's
authentic text. But the cauldron and its ingredients, no less
than the bestowal of these witch-like powers and attributes,
formed a necessary concession to the rising taste for melodra-
matic and spectacular incidents : it was not in itself essential
to the raising of the apparitions which lured Macbeth on to his
xlii MACBETH
doom — Shakespeare, in a word, to quote Professor Herford
(Introduction to Macbeth, p. i6i), "has blended the character-
istics of all three [the weird sisters, the wizards and the certain
witch of Holinshed] in his weird-sister witches . . . who speak
a language which admits the extremes of sublimity and gross-
ness, of mystic suggestion and realistic detail, the wild ele-
mental poetry of wind and storm, and the recondite lore of the
foul and noisome potencies of matter. The hideous imagin-
ings of popular and academic demonology, so busily promoted
by the king, are drawn upon without reserve ; but we see them
through an enchanted atmosphere." If, then, we realise that
these supernatural agents of the tragedy are only " witches " in
so far as Shakespeare has endowed them for his dramatic pur-
poses with certain characteristics of the demonology of his
time, and that the sovereign factor in his conception is that of
ministers of fate and supernatural aid, and that hence they
should be uniformly styled " weird sisters," as we find them in
the play, and never "witches," we shall have nearly arrived at
the true conception of these characters as Shakespeare drew
them. They are not, as Fleay and other critics have supposed,
allied to the Norns of Scandinavian mythology. Nor did
Shakespeare, as Spalding, in h.\s Elizabethan Demonology-, 1880,
has attempted to show, replace Holinshed's weird sisters or
Goddesses of Destiny by the witches of common superstition,
merely to endow them with command over the elements.
They are creatures existing on a higher plane ; and, again
to quote Herford, " in the elemental poetry of wind and
storm."
Supernatural agency in Macbeth and its effect ©ii.lhe
ultimate fate of Macbeth himself is not entirely confined to
the weird sisters. The appearance of Banquo's ghost in
Act III. has given rise to certain interesting discussions (i) as
to whether two ghosts are seen, viz. that of Banquo and that
of Duncan ; and (2) whether Banquo's ghost should be repre-
sented bodily or be regarded as a mere hallucination on the
part of Macbeth. '^'"■*- " —•-""" -
(i) Seymour in his Remarks, etc. (1805) appears to have
been the first to think that two ghosts are seen, Duncan's
first, and afterwards that of Banquo ; and chiefly on the
ground that no new terror or "augmented perturbation" was
INTRODUCTION xliii
to be produced by the re-appearance of the same object in the
same scene. Knight was strongly incHned to think that to
make the ghost of Banquo return a second time at the mo-
ment when Macbeth wishes for the presence of Banquo is not
in the highest style of art. Hunter also inclined to the opinion
of those who thought that the ghosts of both Duncan and
Banquo appeared at the banquet. But the preponderance of
fact and sound opinion is in favour of Banquo's ghost alone.
Forman, as we have seen, speaks with no uncertain sound in
his Book of Plays. "The next night, being at supper with
his noble men whom he had bid to a feaste to the whiche
also Bamco should have com. . . . the ghoste of Banco came
and sate down in his cheier be-hind him. And he turninge
A-bout to sit down Again sawe the goste of banco." For-
man makes no mention of the ghost of Duncan. Collier
thought that the opinion that the second ghost was that of
Duncan and not that of Banquo was not founded on a correct
interpretation of the text. Dyce {Remarks, p. 197) is em-
phatic on the point : "It is certain," he says, " that the stage
directions which are found in the early editions of plays were
designed solely for the insti uction of the actors, not for the
benefit of the readers ; and consequently, if Shakespeare had
intended the ghost of Duncan to appear as well as the ghost
of Banquo, he would no doubt have carefully distinguished
them in the stage directions, and not have risked the possi-
bility of the wrong ghost being sent on by the prompter.
Secondly, it is certain that when Dr. Forman saw Macbeth
acted at the Globe, the ghost of Duncan did not appear."
And Grant White is equally emphatic : "That this first ghost
is Banquo s is beyond a doubt ; and that the second is also his,
seems almost equally clear from like considerations of Mac-
beth's mental preoccupation with the recent murder, and the
appearance of the ghost again upon a renewed bravadoing
attempt to forestall suspicion by the complimentary mention
of Banquo's name. To all which must be added Dr. Forman's
testimony." I am not aware that the ghost of Duncan has
ever been represented on the stage. (2) As to the actual repre-
sentation of Banquo's ghost : we have already had Forman's
evidence. No less emphatic is the stage direction of the
Folio for what it is worth, ''Enter the ghost of Banquo and sits
xliv MACBETH
in Macbeth' s place'' The poet Campbell considered that the
idea of omitting the ghost of Banquo " was a mere crotchet,
and a pernicious departure from the ancient custom. There
was no rationality in depriving the spectator of a sight of
Banquo's ghost merely because the company at Macbeth's
table are not supposed to see it. . . . The stage-spectre of a
dagger would be ludicrous ; but not so is the stage-spectre of
a man appearing to his murderer. Superstition sanctions the
latter representation." Knight well remarks : " It is a piece
of consummate art that Macbeth should see his own chair
occupied by the vision of him whose presence he has just
affected to desire." And Professor Wilson: "What could
the audience have understood to be happening, without other
direction of their thoughts than the terrified Macbeth's be-
wildered words? He never mentions Banquo's name — and
nobody then sitting there then knew that Banquo had been
murdered. . . . Shakespeare and his audience had no difficulty
■ about one person's seeing what another does not — or one's
not seeing, rather, that which another does ... no difficulty
about the bodily representation of Thoughts — the inward by
the outward." And the practice of all recent distinguished
actors such as Macready, Booth, Phelps, Irving and Tree
would seem to give countenance to the theory that Shake-
speare intended the actual representation of Banquo's ghost.
^1'^ In this tragedy the supreme dramatic energy is concen-
y^ trated upon the two great protagonists, who in their sublimity
and importance dwarf all the other characters. Both Macbeth
and Lady Macbeth have this element of sublimity ; and both,
in spite of the horrors for which they are responsible, inspire
us with awe, and even to some extent with pity. Both have
the same passion of ambition, and to that extent they are
alike. Both are born to rule, and both are of proud and
dominating temper. Their thoughts and aims are habitually
of place and power — " solely of sovereign sway and masterdom,"
as Lady Macbeth puts it. Their ambition is not divided.
They support and love one another, and they suffer together —
almost to the end, even when they drift somewhat apart.
But the contrast between them, as drawn by the master
dramatist, is almost as striking as the resemblance. When, for
example, the murder of King Duncan is projected, it pro-
INTRODUCTION xlv
duces quite different effects on Macbeth and his wife. Then
Lady Macbeth overshadows her husband, though afterwards
she retires into the background, and Macbeth himself be-
comes the leading figure in the drama.
In considering Macbeth's character, in the first place it is
absolutely wrong to look upon him as a half-hearted cowardly
criminal, just as it is equally wrong to consider Lady Macbeth
as wholly an unsexed " fiend." A striking characteristic of
Macbeth is his undoubted courage, — what man dares he dares,
i.e. in regard to all manifest and open dangers. We imagine
him as a great warrior, rough and masterful, a man who
inspires fear and admiration. He is not of a noble nature,
like Hamlet or Brutus or Othello, but he has a strong sense
of honour and the value of a good name. By temperament
he is, as above remarked, exceedingly ambitious, and this
feature in him is greatly strengthened by the influence of his
wife. There is in him besides a much more vivid peculiarity,
and when we appreciate this, I believe we have the key to
Shakespeare's conception of his character. He is bold, he is
ambitious, he is a man of action, but he is also, within limits, a
man of imagination. Through his vivid imagination he is kept
in touch with supernatural impressions, and is liable to super-
natural fears. His better nature incorporates itself in images
which alarm and terrify instead of speaking to him in the
language of moral ideas and commands. These promptings
of his better self — his " better part " as Shakespeare himself
perhaps would say — seem to Lady Macbeth the creations of
nervous fear, and are sometimes, as Coleridge said, referred by
Macbeth himself to the dread of vengeance or the restlessness
f insecurity. As we see in his soliloquies, his consciousness
J dwells chiefly among considerations of outward success and '
failure, while his inner being is convulsed by conscience.
Hence he is unable to understand himself, just as Lady
) Macbeth is unable to understand him ; and he is equally mis- |40'^-' *.
[ understood by actors and critics who represent him as a cold- ' \>y«ui^V' ^^
\ blooded, calculating, pitiless coward who shrinks from crime aL <^^
\ because it is dangerous and suffers afterwards because he is v'^"
\ unsafe. In reality his courage is immense; he rushes from {-<*^^
Vcrime to crime, though his soul always conjures up shapes of
terror and warns him that he is giving his " eternal jewel "
Ld
c
xlvi MACBETH
to the common enemy of man. Macbeth's imagination is
excitable and intense, but it is narrow. It is not the noble
and universal meditative imagination of Hamlet. The only
things which stimulate his imagination are the thrills of sudden
startling and supernatural fear. Manifest dangers leave him
unmoved. What really appals him is the image of his own
guilty heart or bloody deed, and by this he is wholly possessed.
^ Look at the "horrid image" of Duncan's murder which un-
^ fixes his mind, and causes his hair to stand on end. This
"was not for fear of any consequences, nor because the deed
was bloody. What holds him back is the hideous vileness of
the deed as depicted by the power of his own imagination.
Similarly, when the deed is done, he is mad with horror, but
not the horror of detection. He has to be prompted to wash
his hands, and get on his night-gown. What he thinks of is
that he could not say " Amen," because his vivid imagination
pictured his parched throat as the swift and immediate judg-
ment of heaven on the crime. On the other hand, when his
imagination is at rest, he is practical and self-controlled ; for
example, when in Act III. scene i. he skilfully obtains from
Ban quo the information necessary for the latter's murder.
After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth's character seems to
harden, and we have no hope of his redemption. He is in
blood stepped in too far. But the heart-sickness which comes
f^om the perception of his crime is not his habitual state. This
C appears from two considerations. The consciousness of his
Jguilt is stronger than the consciousness of failure, and it keeps
him in a perpetual agony of restlessness. He canfiot sleep.
In the search for oblivion he must have ceaseless action. Next,
his ambition, his love of power, are much too strong in him to
permit him to resign the pride of place for which he has " put
rancours in the vessel of his peace." As an eminent critic has
said, "The will to live is mighty in him." The forces which
impelled him to aim at the crown now re-assert themselves,
and he faces the world, desperate, undaunted, never acknow-
ledging defeat. He will see the whole universe in ruins first,
and he challenges fate to do her worst. It is this frame of
mind and soul which decides him on the murder of Banquo.
The fear is the fear of Banquo and the promise of his kingdom
to Banquo's issue. The dead man will not haunt him perhaps
('
INTRODUCTION xlvii
if the deed is done by other hands ; it is done, and all the
horror of Duncan's murder returns in the banquet scene.
But this horror has now less power, and Macbeth has more
will. He faces the image of terror, and when it is gone, he
is "a ttian again." His hardening conscience is now quite
seared, he cannot turn back, and he himself goes to seek the
weird sisters. He must beware Macduff, but he suspects
no double meaning in their words, and he will not spare
Macduff or any of his kin. Nothing but savage destruction
will quiet his inward fever, and he proceeds to murder Mac-
duffs innocent wife and children. He becomes an open
tyrant, and his country sinks beneath his yoke. And yet he^,
never quite loses some measure of our sympathy. This per- \
haps arises from our admiration of the sublime courage of the \
born soldier, with which, when cheated of his last hope, he
faces earth and hell and heaven.
Just as the first half of Macbeth is greater and more in- ''
tensely interesting than the second, so in that first half is Lady
Macbeth the greatest and most commanding personality. In
fact, she is the most awe-inspiring figure in the whole gallery
, of Shakespeare's mighty creations. As we have already seen, ^ic
■she has many qualities in common with her husband; but she
is sharply distinguished from him in the main by her inflexi-
bility of will, which seems in her to dominate all morality, ~ -^ij^-y
feeling and conscience alike. She links will to deed : there is
I no line of demarcation between them. She immediately as- V~S-^ 'k
isumes the direction of affairs when her victorious husband » \
returns, and impels him to the deed of murder by the sheer ^
force of her will and her over-mastering self-control. Con- V»^v
sequences, which have such meaning for Macbeth himself, -have
none for her, and her undaunted courage sweeps him off his
feet. She is to " bring forth men children only." Even after
the horror of Duncan's murder, after the appearance of Banquo's
ghost, her self-control is unimpaired. From beginning to end,
although she makes slips in acting her part, as e.g. in not
showing any natural feeling in her remark to Banquo after the
discovery, " What, in our house ? " she never complains, she
stands by her husband till the end, but never asks his help :
she is self-sufficient, self-centred, self-controlled, like the great
author of her creation himself She never by word or look
xlviii MACBETH
betrays her husband, even if she unconsciously says too much
in her sleep-walking scene. Yet even in the earlier part of the
tragedy, we can detect certain traces of feminine weakness and
human feeling which perhaps account for her final breakdown.
X Her over-mastering force of will was exerted to overcome not
) only her husband's reluctance, but also some inward resistance
Y; iri herself This is clear from her impatient utterance of the
famous lines : " Had he not resembled My father as he slept,
I 'd done it " ; and she had to nerve herself with wine in order
to produce the necessary courage to go through her part. In
the utterance of the dreadful lines " I have given suck . . .
had I so sworn as you have done to this" (l. vii. 54-59)) ^^^'^d
whilst we imagine her voice rising to the height of an hysterical
scream, as Mrs. Siddons is indeed reported to have given the
i passage, we can still detect the unconquerable will overpower-
' ing the weakness of the woman.
F~As compared with Macbeth she has little or no imagina-
tion. At the most terrible crises of the action things remain
for her exactly as they were. Her mind is merely realistic
and matter of fact. For instance, the chance that the old
king would sleep sound after his journey to Inverness for
her is simply a fortunate circumstance, for Macbeth it is
attended with thoughts of horror. The weird sisters do not strike
her imagination in the least, except perhaps as factors in the
execution of her fixed purpose in attaining to place and
power. Sympathy in Nature with her purpose is not for her :
unlike Macbeth, she would never think of bidding the solid
earth not hear "her steps which way they walk." The noises
in the castle before and during the murder for her are simple
facts and are referred to their true sources. The knocking at
the gate merely comes from the " south entry." The blood
on Macbeth's hands merely suggests the sharp taunt that she
" shames to wear a heart so white " : the blood is only a " filthy
witness." Many well-known passages show her practical and
matter-of-fact mind : none more so than the ghastly and
realistic " Yet who would have thought the old man to have
had so much blood in him ? " It has been aptly remarked that
it is this want of imagination which in the end is fatal to Lady
Macbeth, because she does not foresee the inward consequences
which at once reveal themselves in her husband, and afterwards
fU
INTRODUCTION xUx
in herself. Consequently her character develops on lines con-
trary to those which we have followed in the character of Mac-
beth. When the murder is done, the discovery of its
hideousness, as she sees it in the faces of the guests, comes to
her with the shock of a sudden disclosure, her woman's nature
gives way, and begins to sag. Her " tenement of clay " is
" o'er-informed." The first hint of this seems to be indicated f)
by Shakespeare when she faints and is carried out. Incident-
ally, I am of opinion that she is meant really to faint, though
many authorities hold to the contrary. She never expected
to take part in the gross reality of the murder, she never ex-
pected to be obliged to carry back the daggers, to see the
bloody corpse of the old king and to smear the faces of the
grooms. But Macbeth's agony had alarmed her, and she was
compelled to complete his unfinished task. She has gone
through the ordeal of the discovery, she realises the horror and
suspicion excited by the murder, which she had before refused
to do ; and it seems perfectly natural that, being a woman, the
inevitable reaction should come, and overtasked nature give
way.
When later on we find her as queen, the pride of place
has gone. She is utterly disillusioned and weary with want
of sleep. She has thrown away all and gained nothing ; " the
stem of her being seems to be cut through," as one eminent
writer has put it.
Macbeth now steps into the foreground, and she retires.
Her powerful will is still there, but it is only in the banquet
scene that she makes any effort to exercise it ; in that grave
emergency her strength and ascendancy return, as by a tour de
force, to prevent Macbeth betraying himself, and she succeeds
in turning him from this at least. But this is her final effort
and she retires from the action. We only learn from her piti-
ful words in the sleep-walking scene that she has even heard
of the vilest crime of all, the slaughter of the innocent Lady
Macdufifand her children. That pitiful cry, "The Thane of
Fife had a wife, where is she now? " shows that Lady Macbeth
is still a woman ; it shows that as a woman she can still feel
for a murdered woman ; it is, as Professor Wilson has nobly
put it, "a touch of nature from Shakespeare's profound and
pitiful heart." Lady Macbeth is now alone in her misery,
fVC^
1 MxiCBETH
drifting apart from her husband, sinking slowly down to the
inevitable end. She cannot bear darkness and she " has light
by her continually." Her nature, not her unbending will,
gives way ; and it quite accords with her character that her
own hand cuts short the agony of her life.
From the banquet scene till the end we involuntarily think
of her less as the instigator of murder than as a woman with \
much that is grand in her nature and much that is piteous. %
Strange as the statement may appear, and it is no new idea, 0 C
she is, according to her lights, a perfect wife. She gives her
husband of her best. She admires him and thinks him a great
man for whom the kingdom is the only proper sphere. She
despises what she thinks is his weakness, but she never
despises him. Her ambition, both for him and for herself, was
fatal to him ; much more so than the prophecies of the weird
sisters ; but even when she instigated him to murder, she
believed that she was helping him to do what he only lacked
the nerve to attempt.
MACBETH
Noblemen of Scotland.
DRAMATIS PERSONS
Duncan, King of Scotland.
Malcolm, \ „. _
DONALBAIN,/^^^'^^'^^-
Macbeth, 1 , ^ , .,. , ,
Banquo, ] Generals of t lie King s Army.
Macduff,
Lenox,
ROSSE,
Menteth,
Angus,
Cathness,
Fleance, Son to Banquo.
SiWARD, Earl of Nortiiumberland, General of the English Forces.
Young Siward, his Son.
Seyton, an Officer attending on Macbeth.
Boy, Son to Macduff.
An English Doctor.
A Scotch Doctor.
A Soldier.
A Porter.
An Old Man.
Lady Macbeth.
Lady Macduff.
Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth.
Hecate, and three Witches.
Lords, Gentkfnen, Officers, Soldiers, Afurderers, Attendants,
and Messengers.
The Ghost of Banquo, and other Apparitions.
Scene : In the end of the Fourth Act, in England ; through
the rest of the play, in Scotland.
MACBETH
ACT I
SCENE I. — An open place.
Thunder and lightning. Enter three WiTCHES.
1 Witch. When shall we three meet again,
In thunder, Hghtning, or in rain ?
2 Witch. When the hurlyburly 's done,
When the battle's lost and won.
I. again,^ againe ? F i ; again Hanmer. 2. or] and Hanmer, Capell.
Scene /. . . . Enter three Witches.]
This scene is probably spurious. No
dramatic interest or object is gained by
its introduction. The dignity and im-
pressiveness of the opening tragedy is
fully secured by the sudden appearance
of the weird sisters at i. iii. 39. The
references to " Graymalkin " and " Pad-
dock " are simply " conveyed " from
the great scene, iv. i. ; and the oft-quoted
line II, " Fair is foul, and foul is fair,"
merely reproduces and distorts the open-
ing remark of Macbeth, i. iii. 38. See
the Introduction hereon.
I. again,] There is little reason for
changing, with Hanmer, the punctua-
tion of the Folio. The idea of the pas-
sage would seem to be, When shall we
meet again ? When we do meet, shall
it be in such disturbance of the elements
as the present ? Hanmer also reads
" and " for the or of the Folio in line 2,
no doubt on the ground that there could
not be a question as to which of the
three the sisters should meet in ; but
the point is of the smallest import-
ance.
3. hurlyburly] uproar, tumult, con-
fusion ; especially the tumult of sedition
or insurrection. Cotgrave's French
Dictionary (161 1) gives, " Grabuge : f.
A great coyle, Stirre, garboyle, ttir-
moyle, hurly-burly.''' We find in
Halle's Chronicle (1548), Henry VIIL,
231 a, " In this tyme of insurrection,
and in the rage of horley barley.'' And
in Golding's Ovid, ix. 510 (ed. Rouse,
1904), " and through this part all love
of theyrs seditiously increast A hurly-
burly " (of the gods). In the Variorum
of 1821 Henderson quotes Henry
PeachiLm's Garden of Eloquence, 1577:
" Onomatopeia, when we invent, de-
vise, fayne, and make a name intim-
ating the sound of that it signifieth, as
hurly burly for an uprore and tumultu-
ous stirre." See the article in the
Oxford Diet. The word occurs in Mar-
lowe and Nashe'sDJefo, Queen of Carth-
age, IV. i. 10 : —
" I think it was the devils' revelling
night,
There was such hurly-burly in
the heavens."
And Shakespeare himself uses it as an
adjective in 1 Henry IV. v. i. 78 :
" hurlyburly innovation." The simple
" hurly " occurs in King John, iii. iv.
169, " Methinks I see the hurly all on
foot"; and 2 Henry IV. in. i. 25,
" that with the hurly death itself
awakes."
4
MACBETH
[act I.
WtUh. That will be ere the set of sun. 5
Witch. Where the place?
Witch. Upon the heath.
Witch. There to meet with Macbeth.
Witch. I come, Graymalkin !
All. Paddock calls. — Anon ! —
Fair is foul, and foul is fair: lO
Hover through the fog and filthy air. {Exeunt.
SCENE II. — A camp near Fores.
Alarum within. Enter KiNG DuNCAN, MALCOLM, DONAL-
BAIN, Lenox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding
Captain.
Dun. What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state,
5. the\oxa. Pope. 7. to meet with Macbeth] I go to meet Macbeth Pope;
to meet with great Macbeth Ca.peU. g-io. Paddock . . . /asK] two lines, Pope;
one line, Ff. g, calls. — Anon! — ] Rowe and Capeli, substantially; calls
anon : Ff.
ScE^rB II.
Duncan'] Capeli; King F i. Captaine] Ff ; Sergeant Camb. Edd.
f
8. Graymalkin /] or Grimalkin, a
grey cat ; with the toad, a common
witches' "familiar." Compare the
" brinded cat " of iv. i. i. " Malkin "
is a diminutive of Mary. " Upton ob-
serves," says Steevens, " that to under-
stand this passage we should suppose
one familiar calling with the voice of a
cat, and another with the croaking of a
toad."
9. Paddock] a toad. The Promp-
torititn Parvulorum (ed. Way, 1843-65),
p. 376, has " Paddok, toode, Bufo."
The word is still found in provincial
English. In Reginald Scot's Discoverie
of Witchcraft (ed. 1584), bk. i. ch. iv.,
we find " Some say they can keepe
diuels and spirits in the likenesse of
todes and cats." But Cotgrave's Diet,
seems to regard the word as equivalent
to grenouille, a frog, and not to crapand,
a toad. And this appears to have been
the usage in the North of England, at
any rate. Furness, Jr., New Variorum
Macbeth (ed. 2), quotes from Topsell,
History of Serpents (1608, p. 187, 1658,
p. 725), referring to the " Padock or
crooked back Frog" — "It is not alto-
gether mute, for in time of perrill . . .
they have a cr3'ing voyce, which I have
often times prooved by experience."
10. Fair . . . fair :] Farmer pointed
out the proverbial character of this
phrase, and quoted Spenser's Faerie
Queene, iv. viii. 32 : " Then faire grew
foule, and foule grew faire in sight."
Shakespeare had certainly read the
Faerie Queene; and as he had used the
phrase at the authentic opening of his
play, viz. i. iii. 38, it was easy for the
interpolator to "convey" it into the
first scene. Marlowe has the expression
in his Tamhurlaine, Part I. line 1917
(ed. Tucker Brooke, IQ09) : " Faire is
too foule an epithite for thee."
Scene n.
This scene is most certainly spurious.
The arguments for this view will be
found in the Introduction.
The Folio in its stage-direction has
" Enter King . . . meeting a bleeding
Captaine — no doubt the " Sergeant "
of line 3.
3. sergeant] Steevens says, " Holin-
shed mentions, in his account (Hist.
Scot. ii. 168 b, ed. Boswell-Stone, p. 19),
of Makdowald's rebellion that the King
iK
V
w
,1^'
^
^\^
.vr
SC. II.]
MACBETH
Mai. This is the sergeant,
Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought
'Gainst my captivity. — Hail, brave friend !
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil,
As thou didst leave it.
Cap. Doubtful it stood ;
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald
(Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villainies of nature
Do swarm upon him) from the western isles
Of Kernes and Gallowglasses is supplied ;
10
7. Doubtful] Doubtful long Pope ; Doubtfully Steevens {1793). 10. for
to that] for, to that, Capell. 13. Gallowglasses] Gallozti grosses F i.
sent a Sergeant at arms to bring up
the chief offenders to answer the
charges preferred against them, but the
latter misused and slew the messenger.
Shakespeare just caught the name from
Holinshed, but disregarded the rest of
the story." With the exception of the
material fact that it is the interpolator
— generally supposed to be Middleton —
and not Shakespeare who is respon-
sible for the " bleeding Sergeant,"
or "bleeding Captaine," Steevens is
possibly correct.
3, 5, 7. If it were worth while trying
to emend the imperfect metre, the con-
jectures of Pope, Hanmer, Steevens,
and Walker are perhaps as good as any.
5. my captivity] It is difficult to un-
derstand what is meant by this, unless
on the theory of a careless blunder of
the interpolator of the scene. It may
have been suggested by a reference in
Holinshed (Hist. Scot. ii. 168, Boswell-
Stone, p. 20) to Makdowald who "by
meere force tooke their Captaine Mal-
colme, and after the end of the battell
smote off his head." But this is not
King Duncan's son, and it refers to an
earlier phase of the revolt. Case thinks
it means " resisted (or helped to defeat)
an attempt to take me prisoner."
6. broil] Compare 1 Henry IV. i. i.
3: "new broils"; and Othello, 1. iii.
87 : "feats of broil and battle."
7-23. This passage can only be char-
acterised as a corrupt piece of bombast,
Vthe metre of which it would be useless
to attempt to improve.
7-9. Doubtful . . . art] We may
compare Kyd's Spanish Tragedie, i. ii.
63 (ed. Boas, igoi) : —
"In all this turmcyle three long
houres and more,
The victory to neither part in-
clinde."
9. Macdonwald] Holinshed's form is
Makdowald. See note to line 5 ajite.
13. Kernes and Gallowglasses] See
Holinshed {Hist, Scot. ii. i6S, Boswell-
Stone, p. 20). The " kern " was a
light-armed Irish foot-soldier; one of
the poorer class among the "wild
Irish," from whom such soldiers were
drawn. The word is also used in a
collective sense as a troop or band of
foot-soldiers : see Spenser's View of the
State of Ireland, 1596 (ed. Collier, vol.
V. p. 361), "with a terrible yell . . .
which is the very image of the Irish
hubbub, which their kerne use at their
first encounter." "Gallowglasses"
were Irish horsemen armed with very
sharp axes. The Oxford Diet, de-
fines the gallowglass as " one of a par-
ticular class of soldiers or retainers
formerly retained by Irish chiefs," and
quotes State Papers Henry VIII.
(c. 1515) ii. 5, "500 sperys, 500 gallow-
glasseis, and 1000 kerne." Coke, Inst.
iv. 358, defines " Gallowglasses,
equites triarii qui securibus utuntur
acutissimis. Kernes sunt pedites qui
jaculis utuntur." Both words occur in
2 Henry VI, liv. ix. 26, "A puissant
and a mighty power Of gallowglasses
and stout kerns " ; " kerns " occurs in
this play, i. ii. 30 and v. vii. 17 ; also in
2 Henry VI. iii. i. 310, 361, 367 ; and
6
MACBETH
[act I.
'V
v.^'
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Show'd like a rebel's whore : but all 's too weak ;
For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smok'd with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion, carv'd out his passage,
Till he fac'd the slave ;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
Dun. O valiant cousin ! worthy gentleman !
14. quarrel] Hanmer (Warburton and Johnson); quarry Ff. 21. Which
ne^er] (nev'r) F i; Who ne'er Pope; And ne'er Capell. 22. nave] nape
Hanmer (Warburton). chaps] Reed (1803) ; chops Ff.
20
Richard II, 11. i. 156. Richard Stani-
hurst in his Introduction to Holinshed's
Irish Historie (p. 45 a), speaking of the
diverse degrees of the " reteiners " of
the Irish nobles, says: "Of the third
degree is the kerne, who is an ordinarie
souldier, vsing for weapon his fword
and target, and sometimes his peece,
being commonHe so good markmen as
they will come within a score of a great
castell. Kerne fignifieth (as noble men
of deepe judgement informed me) a
fhower of hell, because they are taken
for no better than for rakehels, or the
diuels black gard, by reason of the
ftinking fturre they keepe, wheresoeuer
they be.
" The fourth degree is a gallowglasse,
vsing a kind of pollax for his weapon.
These men are commonlie weieward
rather by profeffion than by nature,
firm of countenance, tall of stature,
big of lim, burlie of body, well and
ftronglie timbered, cheeflie feeding on
beefe, porke and butter."
14. quarrel] This, the emendation of
Hanmer, inasmuch as it occurs in the
corresponding passage in Holinshed,
and is much more appropriate to the
context, may be regarded as certain.
But Thiselton, in support of " quarry,"
compares Midsummer Nighfs Dream,
II. ii. 150 : " And you sat smiling at his
cruel prey " ; and thinks that " it is
merely an instance of the word denot-
ing the result or object of an action
coming to be used for the action it-
self" ; and he explains it as meaning
"carnage" {Notes and Queries, gth
series, iii. 223 ; v. 62). He also thinks
it is in keeping with the epithet " mer-
ciless " as applied to Macdonwald.
The Clar. Edd. point out that Fairfax,
in his translation of Tasso s Gerusa-
lemtne Liberata, entitled Godfrey of
Bulloigne, or Jerusalem Delivered,
uses " quarry " [bk. xi. st. 28 ; bk. xviii.
St. 58] as well as "quarrel" [bk. vii.
St. 103 ; bk. XX. St. 65] for the square-
headed bolt of a cross-bow. The Folio
printers, therefore, may readily have
printed quarrel as quarry,
21. shook hands] "As the text
stands," say the Clar. Edd., "the mean-
ing is, Macdonwald did not take leave
of, nor bid farewell to his antagonist,
till Macbeth had slain him " ; and for
" shake hands " in this sense they com-
pare Lyly's Euphues (ed. Arber, 75),
" You haue made so large profer of
your seruice, and so faire promises of
lidelitye, that were I not ouer charie of
mine honestie, you woulde inueigle me
to shake hands with chastetie." But
the text here is worthlessly corrupt, if
not indeed carelessly composed in the
first instance. See Introduction.
22. nave] navel, but not so used else-
where. The words were probably con-
fused in Elizabethan 1 English. See
Massinger's Parliament of Love, 11. iii. :
" His body be the navel to the wheel,"
etc. Hanmer's "nape" is quite un-
convincing, and the bombast of the
passage is probably a reminiscence of
Marlowe and Nashe's Dido, Queen
of Carthage, 11. i. 256 (quoted by
Steevens) : —
" Then from the navell to the throat
at once
He ript old Priam."
24. cousin] Macbeth and King Dun-
sc. II.] MACBETH 7
Cap. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection, 25
Shipvvracking storms and direful thunders break,
So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to come,
Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark :
No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd,
Compell'd these skipping Kernes to trust their heels, 30
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage.
With furbish'd arms, and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.
Dun. Dismay'd not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo ?
Cap. Yes ;
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 35
If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks ;
So they
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe :
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorise another Golgotha,
26. Shipwracking] Ff. thunders break,] Pope ; thunders ; F i ; thunders
breaking Yi 2-^, 28. Discomfort swells'] Discomforts well'd Johnson (Thirlby
conj.) ; Discomfort wells Capell. 33, 34. Dismay'd . . . Banquo ?] verse in
Pope; prose in Ff. 34. Macbeth] brave Macbeth Hanmer. 34, 35. Yes ;
. . . lion] so in Pope; two lines in Ff, viz. : Yes . . . Eagles and Or . . . Lyon
37. overcharg'd with] overcharg'd; with Theobald. 38. So </[«y] a separate
line in Steevens and Camb. Edd. Begins 1. 39 in Ff.
can, it will be remembered, were both ous authentic passages in Shakespeare,
grandsons of King Malcolm. See note and in no one of these is if other than
on I. iv. 58 post. a dissyllable. The faulty line is only
26. break] Pope's emendation for on a par with others in this interpolated
the omitted word in the Folio seems to scene.
be commonly accepted, and is perhaps 37. overcharg'd ivith . . . cracks] This
as good as any which can be suggested, is indeed "an awkward phrase," as the
See the note on 1. vii. 25 post. Clar. Edd. remark, and we may be
31. surveying vantage] Compare quite certain that Shakespeare is not
Richard III. v. iii. 15 : " Let us survey the author of it.
the vantage of the field." The mean- 39. Doubly redoubled] With this
ing resembles that of "peruse " in such may be compared — in fact, I believe it
expressions as •' Out, some light horse- to be "conveyed" from — Richard II.
men, and peruse their wings " (J Henry i. iii. 80 : —
VI. IV. ii. 43). " And let thy blows doubly re-
33, 34. Duncan's speech is printed doubled,
as prose in the Folio. The Clar. Edd. Fall like amazing thunder," etc.
think that " the verse may be made But the phrase was common enough
regular by pronouncing ' captains ' with the Elizabethans. Spenser, e.g.,
' capi tains,' as in 3 Henry VI. iv. vii. has it in the Faerie Queeue, 11. vi. 30:
30: 'A wise stout captain, and soon "And doubling all his powers, re-
persuaded.'" Possibly; but the line doubled every stroke." •
in 3 Henry VI. is in all probability the 41. memorise . . . Golgotha] "mem-
work of Greene and not of Shakespeare, orised" occurs only in Henry VIII.
The word " captain " occurs in numer- ill. ii. 52, a scene which is probably
8
MACBETH
[act
I cannot tell —
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
Dun. So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds :
They smack of honour both. — Go, get him surgeons. 45
l^Exit Captain, attended.
Enter ROSSE.
Who comes here?
Mai. The worthy thane of Rosse.
Len. What a haste looks through his eyes !
So should he look that seems to speak things strange.
Rosse. God save the king !
Dmi. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane ?
Rosse. From Fife, great king, 50
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
42. tell — ] Rowe ; tell : Ff. 46. Who] But who Pope ; Who is 't Steevens
conji here ?] here now ? Keightley. Enter Rosse] . . . and Angus (after
line 45) Ff ; (after strange in line 48) Dyce. 47-9. What . . . king .'] as in
Ff; in Hanmer two lines ending look king ! 47. a haste] F i ; haste Rowe.
48. seems] teems Johnson conj. ; comes Collier (ed. 2).
Fletcher's (or Massinger's) work; and
"Golgotha" only in Richard II. iv. i.
144. Middleton, the probable and
generally accepted interpolator of the
pseudo-Shakespearian scenes in Mac-
\beth, was working for the King's com-
/pany of players from 1613 to 1623 or
]so ; and, as Henry VIII. under the
■ title of All is True, was produced in
1613, he may have taken the word
from that play.
45. Enter Rosse] The stage-direction
of the Folio adds and Angus, and I
see no reason for leaving out Angus as
many editors do, on the ground that
Ross alone is addressed by Duncan.
Donalbain is on tlie stage and he does
not speak at all. It must be remem-
bered (as Liddell, Macbeth, ad loc, well
points out) that the stage-direction
"Enter," etc., means, "begins to take
part in the action, and not necessarily
in the dialogue." The strong proba-
bility is that the interpolator of this
scene was careless and indifferent as
to whether Angus was " superfluous "
or not. Steevens says, " As Ross alone
is addressed, or is mentioned, in this
scene and as Duncan expresses himself
in the singular number, as in line 49,
Angus may be considered as a super-
fluous character. Had his present
appearance been designed, the King
would naturally have taken some notice
of him." As pointed out in the Intro-
duction, this is only another argument
against the authenticity of the scene.
47. looks through] Compare iii. i.
127 post.
48. seems] There is no sufficient war-'
rant for altering the Folio reading,
though Johnson remarks : " Shake-
speare undoubtedly said teems, i.e. like
one big with something of importance."
Probably the meaning is simply, " holds
himself out," " puts himself forward,"
"is about to speak things strange,"
" whose appearance corresponds with
the strangeness of his message."
Compare i. v. 30 post; and 1 Henry
IV. in. ii. 162: "How now, good
Blunt, thy looks are full of speed."
51. flout] mock. Compare Mid-
summer Night's Dream, iii. ii. 327:
" Why will you suffer her to flout me
thus ? " Malone quotes King John,
V. i. 72 : " Mocking the air with col-
ours idly spread " ; and explains :
" The meaning seems to be, not that
the Norwegian banners proudly insulted
the sky ; but that, the standards being
taken by Duncan's forces, and fixed in
the ground, the colours idly flapped
about, serving only to cool the con-
querors, instead of being proudly dis-
played by their former possessors."
But "flout the sky," as the Clar. Edd.
aptly remark, " seems better suited to
the banners of a triumphant or defiant
host."
sc. a.]
MACBETH
9
:1
And fan our people cold.
Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict ; 55
/ Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
' Confronted him with self-comparisons.
Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm.
Curbing his lavish spirit : and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us ; —
Dun. Great happiness ! 60
Rosse. That now
Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition ;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's inch '
Ten thousand dollars to our general use. 65
58. point, rebellious ami] Ff; point rebellious, arm Theobald.
54. traitor^ According to Holinshed
(ii. 171 a) " the thane of Cawdor " was
" condemned at Fores of treason against
the King committed " ; but Holinshed
makes no mention of his having assisted
the Norwegian invaders. The inter-
polator here merely expanded the hint
which he obtained from i. iii. iii-u6
post.
56. Bellona's bridegroom] Appar-
ently Macbeth, as representing the god
of war. But Shakespeare knew that
" the fire-eyed maid of smoky war "
(J Henry IV. iv. i. 114^ was not a
bride. It is highly improoable that he
co]^d have written this inconsistent
passage. Chapman, in his fifth book
of the Iliad, speaks of Bellona as the
mate of Mars, not, perhaps, necessarily
implying that she was his bride.
56. lapp'd in proof] i.e. clad in
armour of proof — approved or tested.
Compare Richard III. 11. i. 115 : —
" how he did lap me
Even in his own garments."
57. Confronted . . . self-comparisons]
that is, faced him with equal courage
and skill; " gave him a Roland for his
Oliver," as Craig says.
59. lavish] i.e. in insolence. Com-
pare 2 Henry IV. iv. iv. 63 (the King
speaking of the Prince) : —
" When rage and hot blood are his
counsellors,
When means and lavish manners
meet together."
61. That ttow] A not infrequent con-
struction with the dramatists. Com-
pare I. vii. 8, II. ii. 7, II. ii. 23, iv. iii.
6, 82 post.
62, Sweno] " The irregularity of the
metre induces me," says Steevens, "to^
believe that Sweno was only a marginal^
reference, thrust into the text, and that
the line originally read ' That now the
Norways' king craves composition.'
Could it have been necessary for Rosse
to tell Duncan the name of his old
enemy, the King of Norway ? " The ir- r
regularity of metre,no less than the men- *
tion of Sweno, is merely due to the haste
and carelessness of the interpolator.
64. Saint Colme's inch] Steevens
says, " Colmes' is here a dissyllable.
Colmes'-ynch, now called Inchcomb, is
a small island lying in the Frith of
Edinburgh, with an Abbey upon it,
dedicated to St. Columb, called by
Camden Inch Cohn, or The Isle of
Columba. Some e-ditors, without au-
thority, read ' Saint Colmes'-kill Isle,'
but very erroneously, for Colmes' Inch
and Colm-Kill are two different islands,
the former lying on the eastern coast,
near the place where the Danes were
defeated, the latter in the western seas,
being the famous lona, one of the
Hebrides." Compare Holinshed (Hts^
Scot. ii. 170 b, Boswell-Stone, p. 22) :
" They that escaped and got once to
their ships, obteined of Makbeth for a
great summe of gold, that such of their
friends as were slaine at this last bicker-
ing, might be buried in saint Colmes
Inch."
65. dollars] The Clar. Edd. remind
10
MACBETH
[act I.
Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest. — Go, pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
Rosse. I '11 see it done.
Dun. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won. 70
\_Exeunt.
SCENE III.— A heath.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches.
1 Witch. Where hast thou been, sister?
2 Witch. Killing swine.
3 Witch. Sister, where thou ?
I Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd : " Give me,"
quoth I : — 5
" Aroint thee, witch ! " the rump-fed ronyon cries.
67. bosom interest] bosom trust Capell conj. Go] om. Capell conj.
Scene in.
5. Give .../;] so in Pope; a separate line in Ff. 6. Aroint thee,]
Aroynt thee, F i.
us that " a great anachronism is in-
) volved in the mention of dollars here.
The dollar was first coined about 1518,
in the Valley of St. Joachim, in Bo-
hemia, whence its name, ' Joachim's-
thaler ' ; ' thaler,' ' ' dollar.' " But
Shakespeare is not responsible on this
occasion.
Scene hi.
Scene in.] The initial thirty-seven
lines of this scene are undoubtedly
interpolated. See the Introduction.
2. Killing swine] Steevens quotes
from A Detection of Damnable Driftes
practized by Three witches etc, ar-
raigned at Chehnisforde in Essex, 1579 :
" Item, also she came on a tyme to the
house of one Robert Lathburie . . . etc.
who, dislyking her dealyng sent her
home emptie ; but presently after her
departure, his hogges fell sicke and
died, to the number of twentie."
6. Aroint thee] Obviously taken by
the interpolator of this part of scene iii.
from King Lear, in. iv. 129 : " and
aroint thee, witch, aroint thee " ; the
only other passage where the word
seems to occur. The Oxford Diet,
states that the origin of the word is
unknown, though it has been the sub-
ject of numerous conjectures. Ray, in
his North Country Words, 1691, thus
explains : " Ryntye, by your leave,
stand handsomly"; as "'i?rn^ you,
witch,' quoth Bessie Locket to her
mother; Proverb: Cheshire." Thores-
by, Letter to Ray, 1703 {Yorkshire
Words), has " Ryndta, used to cows to
make them give way and stand in their
stalls." " This proverbial saying," re-
marks Halliwell, Diet, of Archaic and
Provincial Words, " positively con-
nects rynt with aroint, and Wilbraham
informs us that ' rynt thee ' is an ex-
pression used by milkmaids to a cow
when she has been milked, tb bid her
get out of the way, which is more likely
to be correct than Ray's explanation."
I see no reason to doubt the validity of
Halliwell's explanation. Douce, Illus-
trations of Shakespeare (1807), vol. i.
p. 371, (1839), p. 228, thinks that the
word signifies away I run ! and that
it is of Saxon origin : " the glossaries
supply ryjie for running ; and in the old
Icelandic, runka signifies to agitate, to
move." The word may have some
relation to the north-country and Scot-
tish word runt, a term applied in con-
SC. III.]
MACBETH
11
Her husband 's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger
But in a sieve I 'II thither sail,
And like a rat without a tail ;
tempt to an old woman : " an old runt,
vettila"; and "vetu\a, an old wotnan^'
(Coles's Latin and English Dictionary,
1679).
6. rump-fedl According to Steevens
this means "fed on offals," rumps
having been formerly among the low
perquisites of the kitchen, which were
sold or given away to the poor. Com-
pare "bean-fed," Midsummer Night's
Dream, 11. i. 4;. Steevens quotes The
Book of St. Albans (among the " proper
terms used in kepyng of Haukes"),
" The hauke tyreth upon rumps. '^ In
Ben Jonson's Staple of News, 11. i., we
find:—
"And then remember meat for my
two dogs ;
Fat flaps of mutton, kidneys, rumps
of veal.
Good plenteous scraps."
And in Beaumont and Fletcher's Wit
at Several Weapons, 11. iv. 35 : —
" To size your belly out with shoulder
fees,
With kidnies, rumps, and cues of
single beer."
Nares, Glossary, understands the ex-
pression to mean "fat-bottomed; fed
or fattened in the rump." " It is true,"
he says, " that fat- flaps, kidneys, rumps,
and other scraps were among the lo-v^
perquisites of the kitchen ; . . . but in
such an allusion there would have been
little reason to prefer rumps; scrap- fed
would be more natural, and kidney-fed,
or flap-fed, equal. But fat-rumped
conveys a picture of the person men-
tioned which the others would not in
any degree." Dyce in ihis Glossary
mentions an ingenious explanation sug-
gested to him. "Can rump-fed mean
' nut-fed ' ? The sailor's wife was eat-
ing chestnuts. In Kilian's Dictionary
is ' Rompe. Nux myristica vilior, cassa,
inanis.' " The Clar. Edd. think it may
mean, " Fed on the best joints, pam-
pered " ; but if so, the sailor's wife
would hardly be called a " ronyon."
Our choice seems to lie between the
explanations of Steevens and Nares,
and having regard to the passages
quoted from Jonson and Beaumont and
Fletcher, that of Steevens seems far
preferable.
6. ronyoti] a mangy, scabby creature.
Cotgrave has " Rongneux, scabbie,
mangie, scurvie." Compare Merry
Wives of Windsor, iv. ii. 195 (Ford to
FalstafT) : " You witch, you hag, you
baggage, you polecat, you ronyon ! " ;
and As You Like It, 11. ii. 8, " the rojw-
ish clown."
7-10. Her husband's . . . Vll do]
This passage must have been intended
by the interpolator for an independent
stanza; "Master o' the Tiger" con-
stituting a separate line, and " Tiger " ^
forming a rude assonance with the
last " I'll do " of line 11, emphasis be-
ing laid on "I'll." "The Tiger" is
the name of a ship in Twelfth Night,
V. i. 65. Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. ii. pp.
247, 251, gives an account of a voyage
by Ralph Fitch and others in a ship
called The Tiger, to Tripoli, and thence
by caravan to Aleppo, in 1583. In the
Calendar of Domestic State Papers,
1547-1580, vol. 33, 53,gt^te 13th April,
1564, mention is made of the ship
Tiger, apparently a Spanish vessel.
Craig refers to Thomas Cates's account
of Sir Francis Drake's Second Voyage
(1585). " Master Christopher Carleil,
the Lieutenant-General, Captain of the
Tiger " (see Payne, Voyages of Eliza-
bethan Seamen, p. 227). Londoners in
all probability had seen a ship or ships
of this name at Greenwich or Deptford.
8. sieve] Several quotations are given
by Steevens in the Variorum of 1821
as to the powers of witches in this re-
spect. The Greek proverb, eirl pnrovs
TvKeiv, to go to sea in a sieve, stood for
a hazardous or impossible enterprise.
Furness, Jr., in his revised edition of
the New Variorum Macbeth, quotes
Dyer's Folk-Lore of Shakespeare, 1884,
p. 34 : " The sieve, as a symbol of the
clouds, has been regarded among all
nations ot the Aryan stock as the
mythical vehicle used by witches, and
other elfish beings, in their excursions
over land and sea."
9. tail] Steevens mentions it as the
belief of the times, that though a witch
could assume the form of any animal
she pleased, the tail would still be
wanting, and that the reason given by
some old writers for such a deficiency
12
MACBETH
[act I.
I '11 do, I '11 do, and I '11 do.
2 Witch, I '11 give thee a wind.
I Witch. Th' art kind.
3 Witch. And I another.
I Witch. I myself have all the other ;
And the very ports they blow,
All the quarters that they know
r the shipman's card.
10
15
12. TA'ori] Ff ; r/»OM Vf Capell. 15. verylvariotis ]ohn%on con], ports]
points Pope. 17. card] card to show Collier (ed. 2).
was, that though the hands and feet
by an easy change might be converted
into the four paws of a beast, there was
still no part about a woman which
corresponded with the length of tail
common to almost all our four-footed
creatures.
10. I'll do] "She threatens in the
shape of a rat to gnaw through the
hull of the Tiger and make her spring
a leak " (Clar. Edd.). It may well be,
however, as Paton in his Few Notes on
Macbeth, 1877, ingeniously suggests,
that the fiendish vindictiveness of the
witch only extended to the destruction
of the ship's rudder, so that she would
be tossed about for ' nine times nine
se'nnights,' and to the loss of her
pilot's thumb (line 28 post).
11. a wind] There are many passages
in the old writers illustrative of the sell-
ing of winds by witches : e.g., see
Giles Fletcher, The Russe Common-
wealth, 1591 (quoted by Hunter), as to
the Laplanders giving winds " good to
their friends and contrary to others
whom they mean to hurt, by tying ot
certain knots upon a rope (somewhat
like to the tale of Eolus his wind-bag)."
See also Nashe, Terrors of the Night,
1594 (ed. Grosart, p. 241 ; ed. McKerrow,
i- P- 359) • " Farre cheaper maye you
buy a winde amongst them [witches]
than you can buy wind or faire words
in the Court. Three knots in a thred,
or an odde [? olde] grandams blessing
in the corner of a napkin, will carrie
you all the world ouer." Also his
Will Summers Last Will and Testa-
ment, 1600 (ed. McKerrow, vol. iii. 11.
1219 1222) : —
" For, as in Ireland and in Den-
mar ke both
Witches for gold will sell a man a
winde,
Which, in the corner of a napkin
wrapt,
Shall blow him safe unto what coast
he will."
See also Drayton's Moon-Calf, 865 : —
" She could sell winds to anyone
that would
Buy them for money."
And also the note on " Lapland Sor-
cerers " by the Editor in The Comedy
of Errors, iv. iii. ir, present series,
1907, and the quotations from the other
dramatists therein mentioned.
14. the other] i.e. the others. See
Philippians ii. 3.
15. very . . . blow] i.e. the exact
ports the winds blow upon — ^the verb
without a preposition, as in Love's
Labour's Lost, iv. iii. log : " Air,
quoth he, thy cheeks may blow."
17. Shipman's card] " The mariner's
compass. Probably the paper on
which the points of the wind are
marked " (Nares' Glossary). Compare
Drayton, Barons Warres, iii. 15 :
" Not now to learne his compasse by
the carde." According to Hunter,
New Illustrations of Shakespeare, vol.
ii. p. 167 (quoting Hakluyt's Virginia
Richly Valued, 1609, and Sir H. Main-
waring's Seaman's Dictionary, 1670) :
" Not the card of the mariners' com-
pass, but what we now call a chart."
And Coles's Latin arid English Dic-
tionary, 1679, gives : " A Sea-card, Sea-
map, Charta marina, tabula hydro-
graphica." Dyce quotes Sylvester's
Dm Bartas, The Triumph of Faith,
1641 (p. 256) : —
"Sure, if my Card andiCompasse
doe not fail,
Ware neer the Port";
the original being " Mon Quadrant et
ma Carte marine." Malone's note on
Hamlet, v. i. 149, " we must speak by
SC. III.]
MACBETH
13
I '11 drain him dry as hay :
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid ;
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary sev'n-nights nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine :
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
Look what I have.
2 Witch. Show me, show me.
I Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wrack'd, as homeward he did come.
3 Witch. A drum ! a drum !
Macbeth doth come.
All. The weird sisters, hand in hand,
20
25
[Drum within.
30
18. 7 7/] I will Pope ; He F i. 22. sev'n-nights'] Seii'nights Ff ; se'nnighis
most mod. Edd. 29. wrack'd] wrack t Ff; wreck t Theobald (ed. 2). 32.
weird] wey ward Ff; weird Theohald', w ey ar d Keightley.
the card," viz. "we must speak with
the same precision and accuracy as is
observed in marking the true distances
of coasts, the heights, courses, etc., in a
sea-chart," would seem to favour the
meaning of sea-chart, and not that of
compass. Probably the word had both
meanings.
20. penthouse lict] metaphorically,
of the eyelid, which slopes like the
roof of a penthouse. The word is a
corruption of the French appeniis, an
appendage to a house. Malone quotes
Dekker's GuPs Home Book (p. 79, ed.
Grosart; p. 33, ed. McKerrow): " The
two eyes are the glasse windowes at
which light disperses itselfe into every
roome, having goodly penthouses of
haire to overshaddow them " ; and
Drayton's David and Goliath, line
373:—
" His brows like two steep pent-
houses hung down
Over his eyelids."
21. forbid] " as under a curse, an in-
terdiction " : Theobald.
23. dwindle] See Reginald Scot's
Discoverie of Witchcraft, bk. xii. c. 16 :
'M charme teaching how to hurt whom
you list with images of wax, etc.'"
Waxen figures were stuck with needles
or melted before a slow fire ; and as the
figure wasted, so wasted the person in-
tended to be harmed. See Richard
III, III. iv. 70: —
" See how I am bewitch'd; behold
mine arm
Is, like a blasted sapling, withered
up."
It is possible the passage in Holinshed,
p. 1496, describing the bewitchment ot
King Duff, was used by the interpolator
of this part of sc. iii., also Webster,
Duchess of Malfi, iv. i. : —
" It wastes me more,
Than were't my picture, fashion'd
out of wax.
Stuck with a magical needle, and
then buried," etc.
23. peak] with the same meaning,
i.e. of becoming emaciated, occurs in
Hamlet, 11. ii. 594. Craig quotes
Tusser's Five Hundred Points of Good
Htisbandrie (1573) : —
"And as poor silie henne, long
wanting cocke to guide.
Soon droopes and shortly then be-
ginnes to peak e aside."
32. weird] Apparently a form of the
Middle English "werd," meaning
fate, destiny. " The word is v^Titten
wayward [and weyard, iv. i. 136] in
the original to mark that it consists of
two syllables," feays Knight; see e.g. 11.
i. 20 ; and Grant White remarks on
this point, that it should be pronounced
wayrd and not weird, as it usually is.
"Wayward sisters," says Liddell, and
not "weird sisters," was the phrase by
which these creatures were known in
14
MACBETH
[act I.
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about :
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace ! — the charm 's wound up.
35
Enter MACBETH and Banquo.
Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
Ban. How far is 't call'd to Fores ? — What are these,
So wither'd and so wild in their attire.
That look not like th' inhabitants o' the earth,
39. Fores\ Forts Pope; Soris Ff.
40
England in the seventeenth century :
e.g. Th. Heyvvood, The Late Witches
of Lancashire (1633): "You look like
one of the Scottish wayward sisters."
" It can scarcely be therefore a mere
mistake for ' weird,' as Theobald and
modern editors suppose. Such a term
as ' wayward sisters,' the gloomy sis-
ters, the grim sisters, presents a not
uncommon association of ideas. . . .
In view of these facts, and Shake-
speare's use of the word as a dissyllable,
the Folio spelling weyward and weyard
is retained." But the simple answer
to this is that to Shakespeare the sis-
ters are as he found them in Holinshed,
the iveird sisters, the sisters of destiny,
the " thre Werd Systrys" of Wyn-
toun, and nothing else.
35, 36. Thrice . . . nine] Odd num-
bers, and especially multiples of three
and nine, were affected by witches.
Compare iv. i. 2 post. The Clar. Edd.
instance Ovid. Metam. xiv. 58, and vii.
189-191, which are thus rendered by
Shakespeare's favourite, Golding : —
" And thrice nine times with witch-
ing mouth fhe foftly mumbling,
reeds
A charme right darke of vncouth
words "
(ed. 1593, p. 167 ; ed. Rouse, 1904, 1. 65),
'* The ftarres alonly faire and bright
did in the welken shine
To which' fhe lifting up her handes
did thrife hir selfe encline :
And thrife with water of the brooke
hir haire befprinkled shee :
And gafping thrife fhe opte her
mouth "
(ed. 1593, p. 81 ; ed. Rouse, 1904, 1. 254).
38. So foul . . . dayl We have at
length reached the opening of the
authentic text of Shakespeare. The
expression "So foul, etc." simply
means a day of changeable weather.
Elwin, Shakespeare Restored, 1853,
thinks it means " Foul with regard to^
the weather y and/a?> with reference to )
his victory " ; and Delius (who takes
the hint) that it refers to the varying
fortunes of the day of battle
(" Schlachtengliick des Tages "), but
these interpretations seem fanciful and
are derived, as I suspect, from " the
day of success," i. v. i. The line is un-
doubtedly the source of the concluding""
lines of the interpolated first scene.
See the Introduction hereon. —
39. Fores] The Folio "Soris" is a
conspicuous example of the careless
printing of this play, the compositor
here probably working from dictation.
Holinshed mentions the appearance of
the weird sisters to Macbeth and Ban-
quo as having taken place when they
were on the road to join the king at
Forres (Hist. Scot. ii. 1706) : " Shortlie
after happened a ftrange and vncouth
woonder, which afterward was the
caufe of much trouble in the realme of
Scotland, as ye shall after heare. It
fortuned as Makbeth and Banquho
iournied towards Fores, where-the king
then laie, they went fporting by the
waie togither without other companie,
faue onelie themfe'ues, paffing
thorough the woods and fields, when
fuddenlie in the middeft of a laund,
there met them three women in ftrange
and wild apparell, refembling creatures
of elder world. ..."
SC. III.]
MACBETH
15
And yet are on 't ? Live you ? or are you aught
That man may question ? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips : you should be women, 45
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
Macb. Speak, if you can : — what are you ?
1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of Glamis !
2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor !
3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! that shalt be king hereafter. 50
Ban. Good Sir, why do you start, and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? — I' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show ? My noble partner
You greet with present grace, and great prediction
Of noble having, and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal : to me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
55
44
choppy] choppie F i ; chappy Collier. 57. rapt] Pope; wrapt Ff.
43. question ?] meaning, Are you
tolerant of human questions and will-
ing to answer ? Or, as Johnson
thought, Are ye any beings with which
man is permitted to hold converse, or
of whom it is lawful to ask questions?
44. chuppy] i.e. wrinkled, full of
chops : seems to have been spelt either
"choppy" or "chappy." Compare
Lucrece, 1452 : " Her cheeks with
chaps and wrinkles were disguised " ;
where some of the Quartos read chops.
Cotgrave's Diet., 1611, has " Fendu :
gaping, chappie."
46. beards] We are reminded of the
Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. ii. 202 :
" Evans. By yea and no, I think the
'oman is a witch indeed. I like not
when a 'oman has a great peard."
48. Glcimis] The Scottish pronuncia-
tion is monosyllabic, but to Shakespeare
the word was undoubtedly a dissyllable,
as appears from i. v. 15, 54, 11. ii. 41,
and III. i. i. Steevens says, " the
thaneship of Glamis was the ancient
inheritance of Macbeth's family. The
castle where they lived is still standing,
and was lately the magnificent resid-
ence of the Earl of Strathmore. See
a particular description of it in Gray's
letter to Dr. Wharton dated from
G I antes Castle."
53. fantastical] imaginary, creatures
of phantasy. Shakespeare no doubt got
the word from HoHnshed, 1706 : " Here-
with the aforefaid women vanifhed im-
mediatUe out of their fight. This was
reputed at the firft but some vaine
fantafticall illufion by Makbeth and
Banquho." Craig compares Reginald
Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft, iii. 19,
" For as Augustine and Isidore sale . . .
these prestigious things which are
wrought by witches are fantasticall."
55. present grace] Hunter says,
" There is here a skilful reference to
the thrice repeated ' Hail ' of the
witches. ' Thane of Glamis ' he was ;
that is the ' present grace ' ; but- Thane
of Cawdor ' was only predicted ; this is
the ' noble having ' ; the prospect of
royalty is only ' hope,' ' of royal hope.' "
56. having] " That is, estate, posses-
sion, fortune" (Steevens). Compare
Twelfth Night, iii. iv. 379 : " My hav-
ing is not much " ; and Merry Wives
of Windsor, iii. ii. 73 : " The gentleman
is of no having."
57. rapt] " That is, extra se raptus "
(Steevens). Compare 142 post. The
Clar. Edd. point out that the first Folio
is by no means consistent in the spelling
of this word. For instance, in Timon,
I. i. 21, it has "rapt"; but, without
doubt, the inconsistency was due to
confusion.
16 MACBETH [act i.
And say which grain will grow, and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear, 60
Your favours nor your hate.
1 Witck. Hail!
2 Wz'Uk Hail !
3 WiUk Hail!
1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 65
2 Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier.
3 Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none :
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo !
I Witch. Banquo and Macbeth, all hail !
Macb. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more. TO
By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis ; .
But how of Cawdor ? the thane of Cawdor lives^^M. »:»^'.*- 1^-"
A prosperous gentleman ; and to be king u'ij "''• ^"^y
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence 7 5
You owe this strange intelligence ? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting ? — Speak, 1 charge you.
[ Witches vanish.
Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has.
And these are of them. — Whither are they vanish'd ? 80
Macb. Into the air ; and what seem'd corporal, melted
As breath into the wind. — 'Would they had stay'd !
71. SineVs\ Finleg's Ritson conj. 78. With . . . yoii\ so in Pope; two
lines Ff. 8i, 82. Into . . . stayed l'\ so in Capell; three lines ending respec-
tively cor/o^a//, winde. stayed. Ff.
68, 69. So all . . . hail /] These had issue one Makbeth a valiant Gentle-
lines should be assigned to all the man." Holinshed's form must have
Weird Sisters, and not to the " Third been a mistake for, or a corruption of,
Witch " and " First Witch." The Fynell or Finel.
change in the order of names was no 72, 73. the thane . . . gentleman']
doubt intended to avoid any show of This part of Macbeth's speech, as well
preference. We may compare Haw /ic^ as lines 112 5^^., is quite inconsistent
n. ii. 23, 24, where the King says: with the statement in i. ii. 54, 55. This
" Thanks, Rosencrantz and gi.ntle touches the question of interpolation
Guildenstern " ; and the Queen follows which is discussed in the Introduction,
him with " Thanks, Guildenstern and y^. prospect of belief] r^nge oi belief.
gentle Rosencrantz." Compare Twelfth Night, in. iv. 90:
71. Snze/'i] Shakespeare got the name "the full prospect of my hopes."
from Holinshed, 1686: "After Mai- 76. owe] own, as often in Shake-
colme fucceeded his Nephew Duncane, speare.
the Sonne of his doughter Beatrice : for 81. corporal] corporeal, a form
Malcolme had two daughters, ye one which Sfiakespeare never uses, but
which was this Beatrice . . . Tht other, "corporal " very frequently. Similarly,
called Doada, was maried viito Synell in Hamlet, in. iv. 118, we have "the
\he Thane of Glammis, by whom she incorporal air."
SC. III.]
MACBETH
17
Ban. Were such things here, as we do speak about,
Or have we eaten on the insane root,
That takes the reason prisoner ? 85
Macb. Your children shall be kings.
Ban. You shall be king.
Macb. And thane of Cawdor too ; went it not so ?
Ban. To the selfsame tune, and words. Who 's here?
Enter ROSSE and ANGUS.
Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth,
The news of thy success ; and when he reads 90
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
88. Who 'j] But who is Hanmer.
rebels Johnson.
84. on] Frequent in Shakespeare.
Compare v. i. 6i ; Julius Ccesar, i. ii.
71 : " And not be jealous on me " ; and
Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. i. 266:
" More fond on her than she upon her
love."
84. the insane root] i.e. which produces
insanity. It is not easy to discover
what plant Shakespeare hdd in mind,
whether hemlock or henbane, or the
deadly nightshade. Steevens thinks
that Shakespeare alludes to the qualities
anciently ascribed to hemlock, and he
quotes Greene's Never Too Late, c.
1590 [ed. Grosart, p. 195], "you have
eaten of the roots of hemlock, that
makes men's eyes conceit unseen ob-
jects " ; also Jonson's Sejanus [iii.
ii.]:-
" They lay that hold upon thy
senses.
As thou hadst snuft up hemlock."
Compare the " root of hemlock," iv. i.
25 post. Malone remarks that in Plu-
tarch's Life of Antony (North's trans-
lation, which Shakespeare " must have
diligently read ") the Roman soldiers
are said to have been " enforced,"
through want of provisions, in the
Parthian War, " to tast of rootes that
were never eaten before; among the
which there was one that killed them,
and made them out of their wits. For
he that had once eaten of it, his memory e
went from him, and he knew no manner
of thing, but only busied himself in
digging and hurling of stones from one
place to another," etc. (ed. 1595,
p. 990; ed. 1631, p. 932). Douce
Illust. (1807, i. 372; 1839, p. 229)
quotes Batman Vppon Bartholome; De
2
91. rebels'] Theobald (ed. 2) ; rebels Ff ;
propri etatihus rerum, xvii. c. 87 :
"Henbane . . . is called /wsana, mad,
for the use thereof is perillous, for if it
be eate or dronke, it breedeth madnesse,
or slow lykenesse of sleepe. Therefore
this hearb is called commonly Miri-
lidium, for it taketh away wit and
reason." The Clar. Edd. (Preface, p.
xxiv) think that " the juyce of Mekil-
wort beries " referred to by Holinshed,
Hist. Scot. ii. ijoa, and which Hector
Boece calls Solatrum amentiale, that
is, deadly nightshade, of which Gerarde
in his Herball writes : " This kinde of
Nightshade causeth sleepe, troubleth
the minde, bringeth madnes if a fewe
of the berries be inwardly taken," may
be the insane root; and either this or
the passage in Plutarch is what Shake-
speare had in mind. Nor would he be
unmindful of Golding's Ovid, xv. 350
(ed. Rouse, 1904) : —
" Or of the lake of Aethyop, which if
a man doo drink
He eyther ronneth mad, or else
with woondrous drouzinesse
Forgoeth quyght his memorie."
88. Enter Rosse] French, Shakespear-
eana Genealogica, 1869, p. 293, says:
" This title really belonged to Macbeth,
who, long before the action of the play
begins, was Thane, or more properly,
Maormor of Ross, by the death of his
father, Finley." The " Mormaor "
(which is the correct form) in ancient
Scotland was the high steward of a
province, "riki," or district; and the
title of earl was substituted for it when
feudalism made its way across the
border.
91. rcbels']l!hQ reading r^ie/'s would
18 MACBETH [act i.
His wonders and his praises do contend,
Which should be thine, or his. Silenc'd with that,
In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day.
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, 95
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as hail,
Came post with post ; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence.
And pour'd them down before him.
Ano; We are sent, 100
To give thee from our royal master thanks ;
Only to herald thee into his sight.
Not pay thee.
Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour.
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor : 105
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,
For it is thine.
Ban. What ! can the devil speak true ?
Macb. The thane of Cawdor lives : why do you dress me
In borrow'd robes ?
97, 98. hail Came] Rowe; tale Can Ff ; tale, Came Steevens (Johnson conj.)
102, 103. Only . . . pay thee] one line, Singer. io8, 109. zvhy . . . robes?]
ac\\n Capell; one line Ff.
refer to Macbeth's personal encounter tained the Folio " tale," and explained,
with "the merciless Macdonwald" in " posts arrived as fast as they could be
scene ii., which Shakespeare certainly counted." But as Dyce shows, no such
did not write. expression as " thick as tale " is ever
92, 93. His wonders . . . or his] employed by any writer, whilst " thick
Halliwell thus explains: "the King's ashair'isofthecommonestoccurrtnce,
wonder and commendation of jour and he instances, amongst other pas-
deeds are so nearly balanced, they con- sages from writers of the time, Dray-
tend whether the latter should be pro- ton's Battaile of Agincourt, ed. 1627,
minently thine, or the wonder remain p. 20: "Out of the towne came quarries
with him to the exclusion of any other [bolts] thick ashaile " ; and Harington's
thought." The Clar. Edd. explain, Orlando Furioso, xv'u 51 (i^gi) : "The
" 1 here is a conflict in the King's mind English archers shoot as thick as
between his astonishment at the haile."
achievement and his admiration of the 98. Came] " Ran," the conjecture of
achiever; he knows not how sufificiently Delius, is adopted by Liddell, who says,
to express his own wonder and to praise " ' run ' is common in connection with
Macbeth, so that he is reduced to sil- ' post,' messenger, and involves only
ence." And Liddell : " Contend which one misprint, while 'came' involves
should take the form of praise due to three."
Macbeth's prowess, and which should 104. earnest] Cotgrave's Diet, has
take the form of wonder affecting Dun- " Arres. Earneft; many giuen for the con-
can at Macbeth's miraculous escape elusion, or striking vp, of a bargaine.'^
from danger." 106. addition] "a Title given to a
93. that] " the mental conflict just Man over and above his Christian and
described" (Clar. Edd.). Sirname, shewing his Estate, Degree,
97. thick as hail] Rowe's emendation Mystery, Trade, Place of dwelling, etc."
is generally accepted. Johnson re- (Blount, Law Diet. (1670)).
sc. III.] MACBETH 19
Ang. Who was the thane, lives yet ;
But under heavy judgment bears that life no
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combin'd
With those of Norway, or did line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage, or that with both
He labour'd in his country's wrack, I know not ;
But treasons capital, confess'd and prov'd, 1 1 5
Have overthrown him.
Macb. Glamis, and thane of Cawdor :
The greatest is behind. — Thanks for your pains. —
Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me
Promis'd no less to them ? o^^
Ban. That, trusted home, lti>^i20 '
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange :
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths ;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's 125
In deepest consequence. —
Cousins, a word, I pray you.
Macb. [Aside] Two truths are told,
/ As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme. — I thank you, gentlemen. —
[Aside.'] This supernatural soliciting 1 30
Cannot be ill ; cannot be good : — if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor :
111-114. Whether . . . know not;] so in Malone; five lines in Ff, ending
respectively loose. Norway, helpe, laboured not : iii. Whether] Whe^r Malone.
114. wmc^JFf, Craig; Ml /-^jf A Theobald (ed. 2). 131, 132. if ill, . . . success,]
so Rowe ; If ill ? and one line Ff.
111. H^Aic/t ... cowjfeJH'rf] The scan- de cuve: thoroughly, fully, largely,
sion of this line is difficult. " Whether " home." In this sense in many passages
is of course monosyllabic, as frequently in Shakespeare. E.g. see Cymbeline,
in the plays, and "combined" maybe in. v. 92: —
accented on the first syllable, though it " Satisfy me home
is not so found. What is become of her."
111-114. Whether . . . tiot] Note the 121. enkindle] arouse, fire, stimulate,
discrepancy between this and what has But Coleridge — rather fancifully per-
been said of Cawdor in the interpolated haps — remarks : " I doubt whether this
second scene. See Introduction. has not another sense than that of
112. line] fall into line with, streng- stimulating ; I mean of kind and kin,
then. Compare 1 Henry IV. u. iii. 87 : as when rabbits are said to kindle."
♦' to line his enterprise " ; and Hetiry V. 128. the swelling act] Steevens com-
II. iv. 7: "to line and new repair our pares " the swelling act " of Henry V.
towns of war," etc. Prologue, 4.
120. home] Cotgrave has " A fonds
20
MACBETH
[act I.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, 135
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature ? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man, that function 140
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is,'
But what is not.
Ban. Look, how our partner's rapt.
Macb. [Aside.] If chance_will_have me_jdiig, why, chance
may crown me, — -
Without jny stir.
Ban. New honours come upon him,
135. hair] Rowe; Heire F i. 139. 7nHrder] Steevens (1778); Murther Ff.
140-142. Shakes . . . «oi] so in Pope; three lines Ff, ending respectively wan,
surmise, not. 143. If . . . crown me,'] so Rowe; two lines Ff. 144, 145.
honours . . . him, . . . garments,] Honors come vpon htm Like our strange Gar-
ments,Fi; honours, come upon him, Like . . . garments Theoh!dd; hoHOurs cotne
upon him Like . garments ; Capell.
137. fears] objects of fear. Compare
Midsummer Night's Dream, v. i. 21 :
"Or in the night, imagining some
fear^'; 2 Henry IV. iv. v. 196: —
"All these hold fears
Thou see'st with peril I have an-
swered."
139. whose . . .fantastical] in which
murder is still in the realm of imagina-
tion.
140. single state of man] Steevens
observes that " double and single
anciently signified strong and weak,
when applied to liquors and to other ob-
jects. In this sense the former would be
employed by lago in Othello, 1. ii. 14 : —
" a voice potential
As double as the Duke's."
And the jlatter by the Chief Justice,
addressing Falstaff, in 2 Henry IV. 1.
ii. 207 : " Is not your witsingle ? " The
"single state " of Macbeth may there-
fore mean his weak and debile state of
mind. The Clar. Edd. remark : " Man
is compared to a kingdom or state
which may be described as ' single '
when all faculties are at one, or act in
unison, undisturbed by conflicting emo-
tions." Compare i. vi. 16 ; and, for
the affinity of sentiment, the celebrated
passage in JnHus Ccesar, 11. i. 63-69 : —
"Between the acting of a dreadful
thing . . , and the state of man
Like to a little kingdom," etc.
Also King john, iv. ii. 246: "This
kingdom, this confine of blood and
breath."
140. function] The intellectual activ-
ity which is revealed in outward con-
duct : but the word is applied to action
in general, whether physical or mental.
Compare Hamlet, 11. ii. 582 : —
" A broken voice and his whole/M«c-
tion suiting
With forms to his conceit."
" All powers of action are oppressed
and crushed by one overwhelming image
in the mind, and nothing is present to
me but that which is really future. Of
things now about me I have no percep-
tion, being intent wholly on that which
has no existence " (Johnson).
142. 7wt] Steevens compares a senti-
ment somewhat like this in Merchant
of Venice, in. ii. 184, and in Richard II.
II. ii. 23: "So surely," says Coleridge,
" is the guilt in its germ anterior to the
supposed cause and immediate tempta-
tion ! Before he can cool, the confirma-
tion of the tempting half of the prophecy
arrives, and the concatenating tendency
of the imagination is fostered by the
coincidence. . . . Every word of his
soliloquy shows the early birth-date of
his guilt."
142. rapt] See line 57 ante.
144. come] Probably the participle,
not the finite verb.
sc. IV.] MACBETH (^j>
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould, 145
But with the aid of use.
Macb, [Aside.] Come what come may, >'
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. f
Ban. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
Macb. Give me your favour : my dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains 150
Are register'd where every day I turn I
The leaf to read them. — Let us toward the king. —
Think upon what hath chanc'd ; and at more time,
The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.
Ban. Very gladly. 1 5 5
Macb. Till then, enough. — Come, friends. [Exeunt.
SCENE IV. — Fores. A room in the palace.
Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, Lenox,
and Attendants.
Dun. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd ?
146. {Aside.'\ Hanmer ; om. Ff. 149-153. Give . . . time,] so in Pope;
seven lines Ff, ending respectively favour forgotten registred, leafe, them vpon
time, 154. The] /' th'' Steevens conj. ; In the Keightley. Interim] in italics
F I. 156. Till . . . friends] so Pope ; two lines Ff.
Scene iv.
I. Is . . . not] so Capell; Is , . . Cawdor.^ one line Ff. Are] Ff 2, 3, 4;
Or F I.
147. Time and the hour] Dyce in his personified ; it Is represented as a cool
Few Notes, etc. 1853, p. 119, remarks: impartial judge; asfhe panser Reason.'"
" This expression is not infrequent in Malone believes it is used adverbially.
Italian : ' Ma perch' e' fugge il tempo e The word is here printed in the Folio
cosi Vara, La nostra storia ci convien with a capital letter and in italics, as
seguire ' (Pulci, Morgante Maggiore, c. in Julius Cctsar, 11. i. 64 ; the Folio
XV.). ' Ferminsi in un momento il tempo printers doubtless considering it an im-
e I' ore' (Michelagnolo, Sonit. xix.)." portant word, or perhaps finding it so
Grant White, Words and their Uses, written in the original MS. or stage
1871, p. 237, says: "Time and the copy. In many of the other passages
hour in this passage is merely an equiva- (about eleven) in which the word occurs,
lent of time and tide — the time and tide it is not so printed.
that wait for no man. Time and oppor-
tunity, time and tide, run through the CiCENE iv.
roughest day." I prefer to think that Scene iv.] The elevation of Mal-
" runs" has here a transitive force, i.e. colm (lines 37-39) made him direct heir
runs the roughest day through — to its to the crown, and placed an effective
termination ; but Shakespeare may have barrier between Macbeth and the throne.
intended it to be intransitive, with the He has now a strong motive for immedi-
simple meaning of proceeding through ate action against Duncan (line 48).
the day. i. Arc] The Folio "or" is usually
149. wrought] agitated. Compare treated as a misprint; but if "or" is
Othello, V. ii. 345. correct, it is not difficult to supply the
154. The interim] Steevens says : verb from the context.
" This intervening portion of time is 2. in commission] The well-known
22 MACBETH [act i.
Mai. My liege,
They are not yet come back ; but I have spoke
With one that saw him die : who did report,
That very frankly he confess'd his treasons, 5
Implor'd your highness' pardon, and set forth
A deep repentance. Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it : he died
As one that had been studied in his death.
To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd, 10
As 't were a careless trifle.
Dun. X^^^^ '^ 'lO-.^rt
To find the mind's construction inl:he face :
He'was^a^^ntl^m'ah'oh whom I Built
ATTaBsorute trust — "" ~'
Enter MACBETH, Banquo, RossE, and ANGUS.
O worthiest cousin !
The sin of m}' ingratitude even now 15
Was heavy on me. Thou art so far before,
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee : 'would thou hadst less deserv'd,
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine ! only I have left to say, 20
More is thy due than more than all can pay.
2-8. My liege, , . . died] so Pope; seven lines Ff, ending respectively back,
die: hee Pardon, Repentance : him, dy^de, 9, 10. studied in his death. To]
studied, in his death. To Keightley; studied in his death To Dyce (ed. 2).
17. That] The Jennens. wing] F i ; wind Rowe.
legal term, in the exercise of delegated North's Plutarch, Julius Casar (1593),
authority. Compare 5 //ewry IV. in. p. 759: "he was excellently vk'ell
ii, 97 : " It is my cousin Silence, in studied. So that doubtlesse he was
commission with me " ; i.e. as a justice, counted the second man for eloquence
4. die] Steevens here remarks : " The in his time."
behaviour o{th& thane of Cawdor cox- 11-14. There's no art . . . trust]
responds in almost every circumstance This celebrated passage has been al-
with that of the unfortunate Earl of most universally recognised, and justly
Essex, as related by Stowe, p. 793. so, as a consummate stroke of dramatic
His asking the Queen's forgiveness, art. Malone refers to the 93rd Sonnet
his confession, repentance, and concern for a contrary sentiment :
about behaving with propriety on the " In many looks the false heart's
scaffold, are minutely described." But history
this seems fanciful. Shakespeare in Is writ in moods, and frowns, and
all probability sympathised with Essex, wrinkles strange."
and did not regard him as a traitor. 19. proportion] due proportion or
9. studied] " His own profession relation, as in Troilus and Cressida, i.
furnished Shakespeare with this phrase, iii. 87: "proportion, season, form.
To be ' studied ' in a part, or to have Office and custom " ; or, possibly, the
studied it, is yet the technical term of larger share or portion,
the theatre," says Malone. Compare 20. mine !] i.e. in my power to give.
sc. IV.] MACBETH 23
Macb. The service and the loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part
Is to receive our duties : and our duties
Are to your throne and state, children and servants ; 25
, Which do but what they should, by doing everything
\Safe toward your love and honour.
Dun. Welcome hither :
ii I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
; To make thee full of growing. — Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserv'd, nor must be known 30
No less to have done so, let me infold thee,
And hold thee to my heart.
Ban. There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
Dun. My plenteous joys.
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow.— Sons, kinsmen, thanes, 35
23-27. YoiiY . . . honour] so Pope ; five lines Ff, ending respectively Duties :
State, should, Loue Honor. 25. throne and state, children and] Throne, and
State, Children, and Ff. 27. Safe] Shap'd Hanmer ; Fiefd Warburton ;
Fiefs Id. conj. ; Serves Heath conj. ; Saf'd Malone conj. ; Slaves Kinnear conj. ;
So/« Orson conj. your] you Blzckstone con], love] Life Waihuiton. 30.
That] Thou Pope. nor] and Rovve.
27. Safe . . . honour] "with a sure cowardice of his own conscience dis-
regard to your love and honour," " safe " closes itself."
being used provinciaily for "sure," 28. to plant] Compare All's Well
"certain," say the Clar. Edd. Macbeth that Ends Well, 11. iii. 163 : " It is in
no doubt refers to his late victorious us to plant thine honour where we
effort in defence of Duncan's throne please to have it grow."
against enemies who would have de- 33-35. My . . . sorrow] For the
prived him of the love and honour of sentiment compare Romeo and yuliet,
his subjects. Perhaps, however, the ad- iii. ii. 102-104; Mtich Ado About No-
jectival and adverbial uses blend in the thing, i. i. 26-29 ; and Winter's Tale,
word, and the meaning may be: by per- v. ii. 49-50. Malone quotes from
forming every duty w/io//}' or ^K^?>^/;/ to- Lucan (ix. 1038): —
ward (with regard to) your love and .. lacrymas non sponte cadentes
honour, t.e our affection and respect Effudit, gemitusque expressit pec-
for you (salvus = '6\os). Coleridge, ^^^^ j^°jq
iVo^fi and L^c^nm {1849), p. 245, says: ^^^ ^u^^j manifesta potens ab-
" Here m contrast with Duncan s scondere mentis
' plenteous joys,' Macbeth has nothing Qaudia, quam lacrymis."
but the commonplaces of loyalty, in
which he hides himself with ' our As there was no English translation of
duties.' Note the exceeding effort of Lucan before 1614, unless Shakespeare
Macbeth's addresses to the king, his had read and imitated the passage,
reasoning on his allegiance, and then which is extremely unlikely, we are
especially, when a new difficulty, the driven to believe, and no doubt the fact
designation of a successor, suggests a is, that Shakespeare's sentiment is a
new crime. This, however, seems the mere coincidence.
first distinct notion as to the plan of 35. Sons . . . thanes] It is extremely
realising his wishes; and here, there- probable that an "and" coupling
fore, with great propriety, Macbeth's "sons" and "kinsmen" was inadver-
-r
24 MACBETH [act i.
And you whose places are the nearest, know,
We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm ; whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland : which honour must
Not, unaccompanied, invest him only, 40
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers. — From hence to Inverness,
And bind us further to you.
Macb. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for you :
I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful 45
The hearing of my wife with your approach ;
So, humbly take my leave.
Dun. My worthy Cawdor !
Macb. [Aside.] The Prince of Cumberland ! — That is a step
? On which I mtTst fall down, or else o'erleap, ^ -C^*
\For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires ! ^ f<* 50
/ Let not light see my black and deep desires ; ^'^Jo^
The eye wink at the hand ; yet let that be.
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. Hc^? [Exif.
Dun. True, worthy Banquo : he is full so valiant, 'h^^ cC/*^'^*-* •^*-
And in his commendations I am fed ; 55
It is a banquet to me. Let us after him,
42. In'verness\ Pope; Envernes, Ff. 45. harbinger] Rowe; Herbenger,
Ff I, 2, 3 ; Harbenger F 4. 51. not light] no light Hanmer; not Night
Warburton.
tentiy omitted by the Folio printers ; and the mark of his designation. Cumber-
its introduction would do no violence land was at that time held by Scotland
to the text, for the following reasons : of the crown of England as a fief."
(i) Shakespeare probably coupled 45. harbinger] an officer of the
"sons" with "kinsmen," blood rela- household whose duty it was to provide
tions, just as he has coupled " thanes" lodgings for the king. " Mareschal du
and " you whose," etc. (2) We have corps du Roy : The Kings Chiefe Har-
exact warrant for the "and" in v. vii. linger^'': Cotgrave. (Compare v. vi.
ga post: "My thanes and kinsmen." 10 post). The word is found in differ-
Only the longest and toughest critical ent forms in Early and Middle English,
ear could ever dream ot holding that e.g. "herbergere," "herbenger," etc.
"sorrow" could be lengthened into a Compare Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale,
trisyllable. 899 : " The fame is born . . . by her-
37. establish our estate] settle the bergeonrs that wenten him biforn," and
succession. The word "estate" be- Palsgrave, Lfsc/amss<-mf«< (1530) 2286,
trays a distinctly legal flavour. See has: ^^Hzrhtxgf^r, f currier du roy."
Holinshed, Hist. Scot. ii. 170, Bos- 50. Stars] The Clar. Edd. remark,
well-Stone, p. 25. " Macbeth apparently appeals to the
39. The Prince of Cumberland] stars because he is contemplatmg night
Steevens says, " The crown of Scot- as the time for the perpetration of the
land was originally not hereditary, deed. There is nothing to indicate
When a successor was declared in the that this scene took place at night."
life-time of a king, as was often the 52. The eye . . . hand] i.e. be shut
case, the title of Prince of Cumberland so as not to see the deed executed,
was immediately bestowed on him as 56. banquet] i.e. what we nov call
sc. v.] MACBETH 25
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome :
It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt.
SCENE V. — Inverness. A room in MacBETH's castle.
Enter Lady Macbeth, reading a letter.
Lady M, *' They met me in the day of success ; and I have
learnt by the perfectest report, they have more in
them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in
desire to question them further, they made themselves
air, into which they vanished. Whiles 1 stood rapt 5
in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who
all-hailed me, ' Thane of Cawdor ' ; by which title,
before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred
me to the coming on of time, with ' Hail, king that
shalt be ! ' This have I thought good to deliver' thee, 10
m^;;dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightest not
lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what
greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart,
and farewell."
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor ; and shalt be 15
8. weird] weyward Ff; weird Theobald; wayward Rowe ; weyard Keight-
ley. 12. lose] loose F i. the dues] thy dues Capell conj.
dessert — a slight refection, consisting allie his wife lay sore vpon him to
of cakes, sweetmeats and fruit, and attempt the thing, as fhe that was verie
generally served in a room to which ambitious, burning in vnquenchable
the guests removed after dinner, a defire to beare the name of a queene."
practice not uncommon in the Inns of Shakespeare found these in the ante-
Court at the present day, at least on cedent story of the murder of King Duff,
"call" nights. I think Shakespeare one of Duncan's predecessors,
intends this restricted sense here, just i. success] seems to be used here, as
as in Taming of the Shrew, v. ii. 9, in i. iii. 90, in the modern sense ; but its
when Lucentio says : — ordinary sense in Shakespeare's time, at
" My banquet is to close our stom- least when not qualified by an epithet,
achs up like " good," " vile," etc., was " issue,"
After our great good cheer." " sequel," " consequence " of a thing.
The ordinarj' sense, however, is com- 2. the perfectest report] " the best
mon in Shakespeare. intelligence " (Johnson). " The most
58. kinsman] French, Shakespeareaiia accurate intelligence, i.e. my own ex-
Genealogica, 1869, p. 290, says that perience " (Clar. Edd.), unless indeed it
Duncan and Macbeth, as the sons of means the report made by Ross of the
two sisters, were first-cousins, whilst King's intention to invest Macbeth with
Duncan and Lady Macbeth were third- the thaneship of Cawdor.
cousins. Compare i. ii. 24 ante. 6. missives] messengers. Compare
„ Antony and Cleopatra, 11. ii. 74 : " Did
CBNE V. gibe my mmJT)« out of audience."
Enter Lady Macbeth] Lady Mac- 7. all-hailed] Florio, Worlde of
beth's share in the details of Duncan's Wordes, 1598, gives, " Salutare, to
murder is not related by Holinshed, greet, to salute, to recommend, to all-
who merely says (170&) ; " But speci- haile," etc.
26
MACBETH
[act I.
-\
What thou art promis'd. — Yet do I fear thy nature :
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness,
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great ;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it : what thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, 21
And yet wouldst wrongly win ; thou 'dst have, great
Glamis,
That which cries, " Thus thou must do, if thou have it " ;
And that which rather thou dost fear to do.
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, 25
17. human] Rowe; humane Ff; human kitidtiess] humankind-ness Moulton
conj. 22, 23. And . . . it;] so Pope; three lines Ff, ending respectively
wimie. cryes,it; 23-25. "Thus thou . . . it" . . . undone] a.U in inveited
commas, Pope; "This thou . . . have it" Hanmer; Capell (Thus Capell) ;
"Thus thou must do" Hunter. 24. And that which] And that's what
Hanmer. 25. Hie] F 4; High Ff i, 2, 3.
17. the milk of human kindness]
Compare for the metaphor, iv. iii. 98
post; Romeo and Juliet, iii. iii. 55:
" Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy " ;
and King Lear, i. iv. 364 : " This milky
gentleness and course of yours." With
respect to Shakespeare's use of the
words kind, kindness, etc., it is essential
to remember their radical signification,
i.e. as meaning natural and nature.
Moulton, Shakespeare as a Dramatic
Artist, 1893, therefore suggests that we
should read " humankind " as meaning
" human nature " ; " and that the sense
of the whole passage would be more
obvious if the whole phrase were printed
as one word, not * human kindness '
but 'humankind-ness ' " — that shrinking
from what is not natural, which is a
marked feature of the practical nature.
The other part of the clause, milk of
humankind-ness, no doubt suggests
absence of hardness : but it equally
connotes natural inherited traditional
feelings imbibed at the mother's
breast." But the passages above noted
certainly suggest that " milk " in Shake-
speare's mind denoted an absence of
hardness ; and humane, the Folio spell-
ing, was the only spelling down to the
end of the eighteenth century, when
human was substituted in certain senses,
leaving humane as a distinct word, with
distinctive meanings. There is there-
fore no reason for altering the text.
Liddell remarks : " Shakespeare sums
it up in the words • humane kindness '
— a strain of sentimentality, a touch of
human sympathy that makes him kin
with his victim. Like many a brave
man he is both superstitious and senti-
mental. He can shed blood relentlessly
in the heat of battle and action, but
cold-blooded murder he balks at."
20. illness] i.e. evilness, evil nature ;
" evil " in Shakespeare being constantly
contracted into "e'ill " or " ile."
22-25. thou'dst have . . . should be
undone] The chief difficulty here is the
settlement of the text, and the extent of
the quotation. Pope was the first to
place "Thus then . . . undone" in
inverted commas ; and he has been
followed, and I think rightly, by nearly
all subsequent editors. Hanmer, Capell
and Staunton end the quotation with
II have it"; and Hunter {Illustrations,
ii. 172) only marks " thus thou must
do" as such. The change of thou in
line 23 to thou'ldst seems quite essential
to the meaning, which, I take it, is as
follows : Thus thou must do [i.e. " pro-
vide for " Duncan] if thou'ldst have it
[i.e. the crown] ; A}id that which thou
dost fear to do [i.e. the murder] rather
than wishest should be undone [thou
wouldst prefer to have already done].
Having regard to the phraseology ol
lines 20, 22, 23 and 24 — the repeated
occurrence of " wouldst " — it is difficult
to resist the conviction that Shake-
speare wrote thou'ldst (thou wouldst)
have also in line 23 : and that the ig-
norance or carelessness of the Folio
sc. v.j MACBETH 27
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem ^ ^
To have thee crown'd withal. — ^§OC ^'^
Enter a Messenger. (>^ ^
What is your tidings ? 30
Mess. The king comes here to-night.
Lady M. Thou 'rt mad to say it.
Is not thy master with him ? who, were 't so.
Would have inform'd for preparation.
Mess. So please you, it is true : our thane is coming ;
One of my fellows had the speed of him, 35
Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more
Than would make up his message.
Lady M. Give him tending :
He brings great news. [Exit Messenger.] The_raven
luiliseif^ is hoarse,
That_croak5 the fat4_entraiice of Duncan
29. doth seem] doth seek Johnson conj. 38. He . . . hoarse] one line,
Rowe ; two lines, Ff.
printers is responsible for the change to Antony and Cleopatra, iv. xiv. 112:
thou have : unless indeed we are to '■ with this tidings."
assume that the latter expression is 31-33- Thou'rt mad . . . preparation]
equivalent to thoii'ldst have. an effective dramatic stroke. Lady
27. chastise] The accent is on the first Macbeth, hearing that the King is about
syllable, as in 1 Henry VI. i. v. 12 to put himself in her power, in replying
(if that is Shakespeare's) ; Richard II. to the messenger, discloses what had
11. iii. 104 ; King John, u. i. 117 ; and, been passing in her own mind, and then
possibly, Tempest, v. i. 263. seeks to reason him out of his natural
28. golden round] Compare iv. i. 83. surprise at her violent and unguarded
29. metaphysical] supernatural, exclamation.
above or beyond the laws of nature. 33. inform'd] an absolute usage here,
Compare Marlowe, Tamburlaine (Part as in 11. i. 48 ; where, however, the sense
II.), IV. ii. : — may be somewhat different.
" the essential form of marble 35. had the speed of] Compare Much
stone, Ado About Nothing, i. i. 142 : " I would
Tempered by science metaphysi- my horse had the speed of your tongue."
call." Tiie phrase is uncommon, and some-
Florio's Worlde of Wordes, 1598, gives : what resembles our modern " had the
" Metafisico, one that professeth things pull of him."
supernaturall "; and Minsheu'si'/'ajJwA 37. tending] Apparently this is the
Dictionary, 1599: " Metafisica, things only passage in the plays in which this
supernaturall, the metaphisickes." participle is used as a substantive.
29. seem] Compare i. ii. 48. 38-40. The raven . . . battlements]
30. tidings] singular or plural like The well-known superstition of the time
"news." See As You Like It, v. iv. would seem to indicate that Shakespeare
159: "That bring these tidings " ; and here refers to the bird and not to the
28
MACBETH
[act r.
Under my battlements. Cora^j you spirits 40
That tend onmortal thoughts, unsex^ me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
OT direst cruelty ! rhake thick my blood.
Stop up th' access and passage to remorse ;
40. Come, you spirits] Come, all you spirits Pope {D&venant) ; Come, Come,
you spirits, Steevens (1793) ; Come, spirits of evil Keightley ; Come, you unseen
spirits Kinnear conj.
messenger's " fellow " who brings the
news. Reginald Scot, in his Discoverie
of Witchcraft, ed. 1584, p. 170, says :
[It is most impious] " to prognosticate
that ghests approach to your house upon
the chattering of pies or haggisters " ;
"A continuall 1 messenger hee [the
raven] is of dole and misfortune " :
Nashe, Terrors of the Night, 1594
(ed. McKerrow, i. p. 346). Manly, in
liis ed. of Macbeth, 1896, p. 102, says :
"The approach of an ordinary guest
might be announced by a magpie, but
for such a visit as Duncan's the hoarse
croaking of a raven would alone be
appropriate. This is practically the
opinion of Nicholson, the editor of
Scot, who adds from W. Perkins, Witch-
craft, 1613 : ' When a raven stands in
a high place and looks a particular way,
and cries, a corse comes thence soon.' "
See also " a raven's note " in 2 Henry
VI. III. ii. 40, and Othello, iv. i. 21 : —
" As doth the raven o'er the infected
house.
Boding to all."
And Brand, Popular Antiquities, iii.
210.
39. entrance] This word should be
printed (in fact Capell prints it) in three
syllables, as Shakespeare evidently
wrote and pronounced it. The reten-
tion of the e is very frequently required
metri gratia, when a mute is followed
by a liquid, as in ni. vi. 8 : " monster-
ous " ; Two Gentlemen of Verona, i.
iii. 84 : " resemble-eth " ; Romeo and
yuliet, I. iv. 8: "enterance" ; Twelfth
Night, I. i. 32 : " rememberance " ; etc.
40. Under . . . spirits] This line is
distinctly incomplete as printed in the
Folio ; and no untenable theory of a
"pause," or other like theory, will
account for the missing syllable.
There is some force in the proposed
repetition of " Come " (Steevens) ; and
also in the reading of Pope, who fol-
lows Davenant's version of 1674 (see
Furness's Macbeth, revised ed. 1903,
p. 512): "Come all you spirits."
Darmesteter, Macbeth, Paris, 1881,
quotes from T. Hughes's Misfortunes
of Arthur, 1587, i. ii. ed. Dodsley: —
" Come, spiteful fiends, come heaps
of furies fell,
Not one by one, but all at once!
my heart
Raves not enough ; it likes me to
be filled
With greater monsters yet."
But the reading " ill spirits," which
ought to be adopted in the text, is simple
and to the point, and it fulfils all require-
ments both of sense and metre. It is
strongly supported by the following
passages, viz. : Julius Casar, iv. iii.
289: "/// spirit, I would hold more
talk with thee"; and Tempest, i. ii.
458 : " If the ill spirit have so fair a
house " ; not to speak of " illness," line
20 supra. Malone quotes Nashe's
Pierce Penilesse his Supplication to the
Diuell, 1592 (ed. Grosart, p. 114 ; ed.
McKerrow, i. p. 230), where he thinks
" Shakespeare might have found a par-
ticular description of these spirits and
of their office " : " The Second kind of
Diuels, which he most imployeth, are
those Northerne Marcij, called the
spirits of reuenge, & the authors of
massacres, & seedesmen of mischiefe ;
for they haue commission to incense
men to rapines, sacriledge, theft, mur-
ther, wrath, furie, and all manner of
cruelties, & they commaund certaine of
the Southern spirits (as slaues) to wayt
vpon them, as also great Arioch, that
is tearmed the spirite of reuenge."
Compare the nine kinds of bad spirits
mentioned by Burton, Anat. Melanch,
I. ii. I, 2.
41. mortal] murderous, deadly. See
III. iv. 81, and iv. iii. 3.
42. crown . . . toe]'BzxQ\.^5Alvearie
has : " From the top to the toe, a
capite ad calcem usque."
42. top-full] Compare King John,
111. iv. 180, " Now that their souls are
top-full of offence."
44. remorse] compassion, tenderness.
" Used anciently to signify repentance
not only for a deed done but for a
sc. v.]
MACBETH
29
That no compunctious visitings of nature 45
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th' effect and it ! Come to my woman's breasts,
And j:ake my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
WEerever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, 50
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke orheTT,"
TEatlmy keeX knife see not thewound it makes.
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry, " Hold, hold ! "—
46. peace] pace Travers (Johnson conj.) ; space Bailey conj. 48. for gall]
with gall Keightley. 53. blanket] Ff; blank height ColeridgQ con].
thought conceived," say the Clar. Edd.,
who compare Merchant of Venice, iv.
i. 20: —
" Thou'lt show thy mercy and re-
morse more strange
Than is thy strange apparent
cruelty."
See also Measure for Measure, v. i.
ico: '■ My sisterly remorse confutes
mine honour."
45. compunctious] used only in this
passage by Shakespeare.
46. nor keep peace] i.e. and keep no
peace (keep up strife) between my fell
purpose and its accomplishment (so
that the murder may be carried out).
Steevens quotes The Tragicall Hystorie
of Rome us and Juliet (1562, lines 1781
sqq.) :—
" In absence of her knight the lady
no way could
Kepe treu'se betwene her greefes
and her."
48. take my milk for gall] i.e. take
away my milk, as being gall, or take it
and give me gall in exchange ; or, per-
haps, infect my milk so as to turn it
into gall. "Take" here has perhaps
the sense of affecting with malignant
influence, as in Hamlet, i. i. 163 : "No
fairy takes " ; King Lear, 11. iv. 166 :
" Strike her young bones. You taking
airs, with lameness I " The word,
either by itself or in combination, has
many different shades of meaning in
Shakespeare ; and it is quite possible
that in this passage it is used simply
for "receive." For the sentiment we
may compare 1 Henry VI. v. iv. 27
(where the shepherd, her father, says to
Pucelle) :—
" I would the milk
Thy mother gave thee when thou
suck'dst her breast,
Had been a little ratsbane for thy
sake I "
49. sightless stfbstances] perhaps
"invisible forms." Compare the "sight-
less couriers" of i. vii. 23; and "the
viewless {i.e. invisible) winds " of
Measure for Measure, iii. i. 124.
50. jiature's mischief} According to
Johnson, this means "mischief done to
nature, violation of nature's order com-
mitted by wickedness " ; while the Clar.
Edd. paraphrase "wait . . . mischief"
by "are ready to abet any evil done
throughout the world." Rather per-
haps it may mean "attend on the mis-
chief wrought by any natural phenome-
non, such as storm, tempest, earthquake,
etc."
51. dmtnest] an epithet criticised by
Johnson (Rambler, no. 168) as " mean ";
but apparently this criticism was after-
wards recanted in his Dictionary.
Compare Horace in the Ars Poetica,
70: "Multa renascentur quae jam
cecidere . . . vocabula."
53. peep] Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement,
gives : " I peke or prie, le pipe hors."
53. blanket] No more homely, perti-
nent, or forcible metaphor could have
been employed, and there are many
similar expressions in the Elizabethan
writers. Malone, e.g. quotes Drayton's
Mortimeriados, 1596: "Thesullen night
in mistie rugge is wrap'd " ; and he re-
marks, not very aptly, " that 'blanket'
was perhaps suggested by the coarse
woollen curtain of Shakespeare's own
theatre, through which, probably, while
30
MACBETH
[act I.
Enter MACBETH.
Great Glamis ! worthy Cawdor !
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter ! 5 5
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.
Macb. My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
Lady M.
Macb. To-morrow, as he proposes
Lady M. O ! never 60
Shall sun that morrow see !
Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
And when goes hence?
O ! never
57. fresenf] present time Pope. feeV] feel e'en Hunter (and Lettsom) conj.
63. matters. To . , . time,'] Theobald ; matters, to . . . time. F i.
the house was yet but half lighted, he
had himself often /e^/i^rf." And Halli-
well follows this by saying " That the
players did sometimes 'peep' through
such a curtain appears from the Pro-
logue to The Unfortunate Lovers,
1643." Coleridge's proposed reading,
the blank height of the dark, if seriously
proposed, may be at once dismissed as
a piece of unfortunate mental aber-
ration on the part of a great poet and
critic. The Oxford Diet., however,
gives no example of the usage of the
word as "curtain"; and LiddelL sug-
gests, rather fancifully perhaps, the
" picture of a terror-stricken child peer-
ing over the edge of his blanket into
the awful gloom of night." The meta-
phor, however, is quite simple, and can
only refer to the blanket or coverlet
spread by the dark {i.e. night) over the
earth, and is only a variation of Juliet's
"Spread thy close curtain, love per-
forming night" (Romeo and Juliet, in.
ii. 5).
55. the all-hail] the kingly title.
This is practically the expression used
by the weird sisters in i. iii. 50, and in
Macbsth's letter, i. v. 9 ante.
57. This ignorant present] this pre-
sent which is ignorant of the future.
" This has here the signification of the
unknowing" ; says Johnson, " I feel by
anticipation those future honours, of
which, according to the process of
nature, the present time would be ignor-
ant." Compare Winter's Tale, i. ii.
397 : " imprison't not in ignorant con-
cealment"; and Tempest, i. i. 25: "If
you can command these elements to
silence and work the peace of the pre-
sent."
57. and I feel now] Lettsom's con-
jecture (see Dyce, ed. ii., iii. ad loc.),
though in the fuller form even (which I
had conjectured independently) should
be adopted. Pope's present time is not
euphonic. Walker, Shakespeare's Ver-
sification, p. 157, well remarks, " I
suspect a word has dropt out ; an acci-
dent which seems to have happened
not infrequently in the Folio Macbeth."
If confirmation be needed, it will be
found in v. ii. 10: "youths that even
now protest," etc.
62. as a book] Compare Romeo and
Juliet, I. iii. 81 : —
" Read o'er the volume of young
Paris' face,
And find delight writ there with
beauty's pen."
63. beguile the time] not, " wile away
the time " (though Shakespeare else-
where, as in Twelfth Night, iii. iii. 41,
uses the phrase in this sense, as the
Clar. Edd. point out), but in the sense
of deceive the world, delude all ob-
servers. " The time," in the sense of
the present age, i.e. men and things
generally, is very frequent in Shake-
speare. Compare i. vii. 81, and other
passages in this play; and Richard III,
SC. VI.]
MACBETH
70
Look like the time ; bear welcome in your eye, \^
I Your hand, your tongue : look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under 't. He that 's coming 66
Must be provided for ; and you shall put
This night's great business into my dispatch ;
\ Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
Macb. We will speak further.
Lady M. Only look up clear ;
To alter favour ever is to fear.
Leave all the rest to me.
SCENE VI. — The same. Before the castle.
Hautboys and torches. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONAL-
BAiN, Banquo, Lenox, Macduff, Rosse, Angus, and
Attendants.
81 Jv
{^Exeunt. ^
Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air
^Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
\
72. to fear] and fear Theobald (ed. 2).
Scene vi.
I, 2. the air . . . itself] so Rowe ; one line Ff.
"f^ ^-^ t'.NA^
V. iii. 9 : " With best advantage will
deceive the time." Steevens quotes
Daniel's Civil Wars, bk. viii. [709] : —
" He drawes a traverse 'twixt his
greeuances :
Lookes like the time : his eye made
not report
Of what he felt within."
65-66. look like . . . under 't] See
Chaucer, Squires Tale, 512 : —
" Right as a serpent hit hym under
floures
Til he may seen his tyme for to
byte."
And compare 2 Henry VI. in. i. 228 :
" The snake roll'd in a flowering bank."
Romeo and Juliet, in. ii. 73: "Oh
serpent heart hid with a flowering face " ;
and Richard II. in. ii. 19 : —
'•And when they from thy bosom
pluck a flower,
Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurk-
ing adder."
67. provided for] The irony of this
may be paralleled by J Henry VI. v. ii.
18 (where Charles says of the English
army meaning to give battle) : " But we
will presently provide for them."
71. speak further] The Clar Edd.
point out that the old formula for refus-
ing the royal assent [to a bill in Parlia-
ment] was " le roi s'avisera."
yz, favour] i.e. look, countenance;
frequent in Shakespeare. " Lady Mac-
beth," say the Clar. Edd., " detects more
than irresolution in her husband's last
speech."
Scene vi.
Nothing shows the immense prac-
tical dramatic ability of Shakespeare
more than the suggestion of the peace-
ful stillness of evening in this scene,
immediately preceding as it does that
stormy interview between Macbeth and
his wife which puts the seal on Duncan's
murder.
Hautboys and torches] Used in Eliza-
bethan English for the player of the
instrument and the bearer of the torch,
as well as for the instrument and the
torch. Compare 11. i. init.
I. seat] Reid compares Bacon's Es-
says, xlv. Of Building (line 6, ed. Singer,
1868) : " Hee that builds a faire House,
upon an ill Seat, Committeth himself
to Prison. Neither doe I reckon it an
ill Seat only where the Aire is unwhole-
32
MACBETH
[act I.
Unto our gentle senses.
Ban. This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath 5
Smells wooingly here : no jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
3. gentle sensei\ gentle sense Capell (Johnson conj.). 4. martlet] Rowe ;
Barlet Ff ; Marlet Collier (MS.). 5. lov'd mansionry] love -mansionry Staun-
ton conj. mansionry] Theoha.\d; mansonrjFi; masonry Fo'pe (ed. 2). 6-10.
Steevens (1793) arranges in five lines, ending respectively buttress, made they
air delicate. 6. jvooingly here :] wooingly : here is no Johnson conj. jutty,
frieze] Steevens (1793) ; Intty frieze Ff; jutting frieze Pope.
some, but likewise where the Aire is
unequal ; as you shall see many fine
Seats set upon a Knap of Ground en-
vironed with higher Hills round about
it."
3. gentle senses] probably a proleptic
construction, in which the epithet of
the object is the result of the previous
action. (Compare iii. iv. 76: "the
gentle weal.") But it is not necessarily
so, if Duncan means that his senses
have already become " gentle " through
age.
4. martlet] the swift ; often confused
with the swallow and house-martin.
As Steevens remarks, Rowe's emenda-
tion of the Folio Barlet is supported by
Merchant of Venice, 11. ix. 28 : —
" which like the martlet.
Builds in the weather on the out-
ward wall."
The form " martlet" is apparently only
an altered form of " martinet." Com-
pare Turbervile'sFaj</coKm (1575), 134:
" Young sparrowes marteletfes and
other small byrdes."
4. approve] prove. Compare Mer-
chatit of Venice, in. ii. 80 : " Will bless
it and approve it with a text."
5. lov'd mansionry] Having regard to
the " pendent bed and procreant cradle "
of line 8, the argument for Staunton's
conjecture, love-mansionry , is exceed-
ingly strong. If Shakespeare meant
merely to express the bird's affection
for the particular situation of the nest,
heprobably wrote /ozifrf, which is really
equivalent to the present participle
" loving " ; but the epithet seems tame
when weighed against the compound,
v/hich so expressly and clearly indicates
the very motive of the bird's " man-
sionry." "Mansionry" does not ap-
pear to be found elsewhere in Shake-
speare; but " love " compounds are fre-
quent enough, e.g. love-rhy?nes. Love's
Labour 's Lost, in. i. 183, love-song,
Romeo and jfuliet, n. iv. 15, love-juice.
Midsummer Night's Dream, in. ii. 37,
etc.
6. Smells . . . frieze] A word or two
must have dropped out of this line ; and
perhaps Johnson's conjecture does least
violence to the text of the Folio, even
though it slightly alters the punctuation.
But I cannot help thinking that there
was the word which Shakespeare wrote,
and that it escaped the compositor's eye
or ear, owing to its resemblance both in
form and sound to here.
6. jutty] Florio, Worlde of Wordes,
1598, has " Barbacane, An outnooke or
corner standing out of a house; a
iettie " ; also " Sporto, a porch , a portall,
a baie window, or outbutting, or iettie
of a house that ietties out further than
anie other part of the houfe, a iettie or
butte. Alfo the eaues or penteis of a
houfe." And Cotgrave, Diet. 161 1, has :
" Soupendue : f. a penthouse ; iuttie, or
part of a building that iuttieth beyond,
or leaneth ouer, the rest." These
quotations show that the word was also
written "jetty." The verb "jutty"
occurs in Henry V. in. i. 13 : of a rock
juttying his base.
7. coign] Old French coing or coin,
is the corner-stone at the exterior angle
of a building: and "coign of vantage"
means probably nothing more than
"convenient corner," as Johnson ex-
plained. See Coriolanus, v. iv. i : " Yond
coig7i o' the Capitol, yond corner-stone."
Dyce compares Sylvester's Du Bartas,
The Colonies, p. 129 (ed. 1641) : "And
Cape of Hope, last coign of Africa";
where, as he says, the original has
"angle dernier d'Afrique."
SC. VI.]
MACBETH
33
Hath made his pendent bed, and procreant cradle :
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd,
The air is deHcate.
Enter Lady Macbeth.
Dun. See, see! our honour'd hostess. —
The love that follows us sometime is our trouble,
Which still v/e thank as love. Herein I teach you.
How you shall bid God yield us for your panis,
And thank us for your trouble.
Lady M. ^11 our. service,
In every point twice done, and then done double,
Were poor and' single business, to contend
Against those honours deep and broad, wherewith
Your majesty loads our house : for those of old,
And the late ^dignities heap'd up to them,
We rest your hermits. \.,.ua^'^- '^^^-^A^^
Dun. Where 's the thane of Cawdor ?
.^. .-.
^^
10
15
20
8, g. cradle: . . . hauiil,]Ro\ve; Cradle, . . . haunt : VL g. most] Rowe;
must Ff; much Collier (ed. 2). 10. See,see .']See ! Hanmer. 11. sometime
ii] sometimes is Thtohiild. 13. God yield] Steevens; God ild Dyce; God-ild
Capeli ; God-eyld V{\ GorfiW Hanmer ; god-yield ]ohns,on\ God shield Johnson
conj. 17-20. Against . . . hermits] so Pope ; three first lines Ff, end re-
spectively broad, House: Dignities, 20. hermits] Ff 3, 4; Ermites F i;
Hermitcs F 2.
8. made] i.e. made on't, of it.
10. delicate] Compare Winter's Tale,
in. i. I : " The climate's delicate, the
air most sweet."
11-14. ^^'^ ^ovc . . . trouble] The
meaning of this passage is somewhat
obscure. Knight's explanation is as
follows : " The love which follows us is
sometimes troublesome ; so we give you
trouble, but look you only at the love we
bear to you, and so bless us and thank
us." Perhaps it may be thus para-
phrased; "The love that follows us
[attends or waits upon usj sometimes
gives us trouble [to requite], but, not-
withstanding, we still thank you for it as
being love [pure and simple, untainted
with any self-seeking]. In this respect
[in thanking you for it as such love] I
teach you how you will be able to thank
us for giving yoti trouble by showing
you similar love." Case paraphrases
thus: "Love's attentions sometimes;
annoy us, become a trouble; yet we;
repay this trouble with thanks, recog-;
nising the love behind it. If you look'
at the case in this way you will ask
3
God to bless us for the trouble we cause
you, and thank us for it because it re-
sults from our love."
13. God yield tis] i.e. God reward us.
Hunter refers to a passage in Palsgrave's
Lesclarcissement, 1530, p. 4416 : " We
use ' God yelde you ' by manner of
thanking a person." Compare As You
Like It, V. iv. 56 : " God 'ild you, Sir " ;
and Antony and Cleopatra, iv. ii. 33:
" The gods yield you for't." It is
found in the form God dild you in the
anonymous play of Sir jfohn Oldcastle,
l6oo, II. ii. 4, 42.
16. single] simple, weak. See the
note on i. iii. 140 supra.
20. We rest your hermits] " we as
hermits or beadsmen shall always pray
for you " (Steevens). Compare Titus
Andronicns, iii. ii. 41: "As begging
hermits in their holy praj'ers"; Two
Gentlemen of Verona, i. i. 17 : —
" Commend thy grievance to my holy
prayers,
For I will be thy beaduman, Valen-
tine."
34 MACBETH [act i.
We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose
To be his purveyor : but he rides well ;
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him
To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess,
We are your guest to-night.
Lady M. Your servants ever 25 ^
Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt, _^yMJ^
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,
Still to return your own.
Dun. Give me your hand ;
Conduct me to mine host : we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him. 30
By your leave, hostess. {Exeunt.
SCENE VII. The same. A room in the castle.
Hautboys and torches. Enter, and pass over the stage, a Sewer,
and divers Servants with dishes and service. Then enter
Macbeth.
Macb. If jt were done, when, 't j^.doaej, then 't were well
It were done quickly : if the assassination
26. theirs, in compt,] theirs in compt, Ff; theirs, m compt: Capell. 29.
host: we] Host we Ff i, 2.
Scene vii.
I, 2. well It . . . quickly : if] well. It . . . quickly : //Ff; well. It . . .
quickly, if Travers.
22. purveyor] Cotgrave has : " Pour- some time " ; Tempest, ii. i. 176 : " You
voyeur : m. A proiiidor, or purueyor." would lift the moon out of her sphere,
His office was to travel before the King if she would continue in it five weeks
in his progresses to different parts of the without changing " ; and Henry VIII.
realm, and to see that everything was ill. ii. 395: "may he continue long in
duly provided, and generally, to make his Highness' favour!" "To scan
provision for the royal household. See this line," say the Clar. Edd., "we
Magna Carta, c. 22, and other statutes, must pronounce ' our ' as a dissyllable."
The office was restramed by 12 Chas. We must do nothmg of the sort,
n. c. 24. See also 3 Inst. fol. 82, and Shakespeare never so pronounces it.
Blount, Law Dictionary, s.v. See the note on the Comedy of Errors,
2d. in compt] subject to account i. i. 38 (in the present series, 1907).
(Steevens). His pronunciation of "towards " is in-
30. continue] I have no hesitation in different, but it is more commonly
reading "continue in"; and Shake- monosyllabic. Another excellent
speare's usage affords ample warrant emendation would be "continue our
for it. See, in this play, v. i. 28 : "I 6«/ graces " : compare f/aw/t'<, i. ii. 63.
have known her continue in this a quar-
ter of an hour"; 3 Henry VI. iv. ix. ScEKB VII.
17: "continue still in this so good a Scene vii.] A most marvellous ex-
mmA''; Measure for Measure, n.\.iq&: ample of Shakespeare's immense
" Let him continue in his courses till dramatic power. Except the third act
thou knowest what they are" ; ib. 11. of Othello, it has hardly its equal in the
i. 276: " I thought, by your readiness whole range of the great tragedies,
in the office you had continued in it Enter ... a Sewer] From the French
SC. VII,]
MACBETH
35
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success ; that but this blow
_.:~:__n.. — ^ — ,. :„ ingenuity misplaced
essayeur, and meant originally one
who tasted of each dish to prove that
there was no poison in it. Afterwards
it was applied to the chief servant, who
directed the placing of the dishes on
the table. In Palsgrave's Lesclarcisse-
menf, 1530, we have the verb thus : " I
sewe at meate. Je taste." So again
in Holinshed, ii. p. ii2g, col. 2: "the
Esquier that was accustomed to sew
and take the assay before Kyng
Richarde." Boyer, Fretich Diet., has:
"Sewer. A Gentleman Sewer (or
Carver), m« Esxiyer tranchant.^'
Steevens refers to Chapman's Iliad,
xxiv. 625, ed. Shepherd (1875), p.
288:—
" Automedon as fit
Was for the reverend sewer's place ;
and all the brown joints serv'd
On wicker vessel " etc. ;
and states that another part of the
sewer's office was to bring water for
the guests to wash their hands with ;
his chief mark of distinction was a towel
round his arm. He also refers^-to Ben
Jonson's Silent Woman, iii. i. (p. 219,
ed. Gifford, 1843) : " and say nothing,
clap me a clean towel about you, like
a sewer.'' Jonson, by the way, seems
to imitate or ridicule this stage-direc-
tion in Macbeth, as in the next scene of
the Silent IVotnan he has the stage-
direction — " La Foole passes over the
stage as a Sewer, followed by servants
carrying dishes, etc." For the "ser-
vice," see Heywood's A Woman Killed
with Kindness, 1607, vol. ii. (Pearson),
p. 132: "enter Butler and lenkin
with a Table-cloth, Bread, Trenchers
and fait." See also page 117.
1-4. If it . . . success'] There is no
doubt as to the meaning intended by
Shakespeare, viz., " If the assassina-
tion were ended once for all, as soon
as accomplished, then it were well to
do it quickly" ; (then the same idea in
a slightly different form) " If the assass-
ination could capture and prevent any
consequences and obtain success by
the arrest of such consequences [then
also it were well to do it quickly]."
There is no good reason for interfering
with the punctuation of the Folio in
this passage. The notion of placing a
full stop after "well" and taking "It
were done quickly " as part of the next
sentence is ingenuity misplaced. It
seems, however, to have been (if not to
be) regarded as effective on the stage,
and was adopted by Kemble, Macready
and Irving; but few critics of im.port-
ance have subscribed to it.
3. trammel up] entangle, as in a
bird net. Cotgrave has " Tramail : m.
A trammell, or net for Partridges " ;
and also "Traineller: To trammell
for Larkes " ; which latter is sometimes
written in provincial English tranell.
Nares mentions a contrivance for
teaching horses to move their legs on
the same .side together : " The mode of
tramelling a horse is described in
Markham's Way to Wealth, p. 48 ;
having strong pieces of girth, you are
to fasten them, 'one to his neer fore-leg
and his neer hinder-leg, the other to his
farre fore-leg and his farre hinder-leg,
which is called among horsemen tramel-
ling.' It is also the name for a peculiar
kind of net." Shakespeare may have
got the " net" metaphor from Spenser,
Faerie Qucene, 11. ii. 15 : —
" Her golden lockes she roundly did
uptye
In breaded [braided] trumels,"
i.e. in braided nets. But Trammel also
had the meaning of an iron hook for
suspending pots over afire; and Shake-
speare's metaphor may have reference
to this; the idea being to " hang up"
or destroy the " consequences."
4. his surcease] "his," I think, must
refer to its nearest subject, viz. " con-
sequence," and not to Duncan. Sur-
cease (0. Fr. sicrsis, from surseoir) is a
legal term meaning the stop or stay of
proceedings in a suit, or the super-
session of a jurisdiction. Shakespeare
uses it as a substantive only in this
passage, but as a verb in Romeo and
Juliet, IV. i. 97 : " No pulse shall keep
his native progress, but surcease " ; and
Coriolanus, in. ii. 121 : " Lest I sur-
cease to honour mine own truth."
4. success] Not used here perhaps in
the more modern sense of "prosper-
ous issue," etc., which, of course, is
also very frequent in Shakespeare (the
word occurring about fifty times in the
plays and poems), but rather meaning
simply the issue, sequel, or consequence
of an action, whether good or bad ; as
in Julius Casar, 11. ii. 6: " bring me
36
MACBETH
[act I.
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
.; ..We'd jump the life to come. — -But in these cases,
i i We still have judgment here ; that we but teach
) k Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
/ To plague th' inventor : this even-handed justice
^ Commends th' ingredients of our poison'd chalice
10
5. end-all here,] Hanmer ; end all. Heere, Ff ; end all—Here, Rowe (ed. i) ;
end-all— Here. Warburton. 6. ^hoal] Theobald; Schoole Ff i, 2 ; School Ff
3,4. time,'] time — Rowe. 11. ingredients] ^o^&\ Ingredience \'i.
their opinions; of success " ; id. v. iii.
65: "mistrust of good success"; and
Othello, in. iii. 322 : " My speech
should fall into such vile success.''
Compare also Bacon, Advancement of
Learning, bk. 11. iv. i, 2: "Because
true history propoundeth the successes,
and issues of actions not so agreeable
to the merits of virtue and vice, there-
fore," etc. The word may possibly
have the sense of " succession," i.e. to
the crown, but, even so, the meaning
is the same. Compare Winter's Talc,
I. ii. 394:—
" Our parents' noble names,
In whose success we are gentle."
Case thinks that " one objection to suc-
cess = issue, here, is that if the blow were
the be-all, etc., with ill consequences,
of which Macbeth clearly thinks, tied
up, a result worth chancing the life to
come for, success in our sense would be
secured."
6. But here] i.e. in this Kfe only.
6. shoal] Theobald's well-known
emendation for the school of the Folio.
Shakespeare compares human life to an
isthmus or narrow strip of land " twixt
two boundless seas " ; or, as Theobald
puts it, "This Shallow, this narrow
Ford, of humane Life, opposed to the
great Abyss of Eternity." Heath. Re-
visal of Shakespeare's Text, 1765, differs,
and thinks that school " gives us a much
finer sentiment and more pertinent to
the purpose of the speaker. This pre-
sent life is called a school, both because
it is our state of instruction and proba-
tion, and also, because our own be-
haviour in it instructs others how to
behave toward- us; as the poet more
fully expresses the same thought two
lines lower . . . Bank, I apprehend,
means the same in this place as bench."
Capell refers to Titus Andronicus, in. i.
93:—
" For now I stand as one upon a rock
Environ'd with a wilderness of sea."
A similar idea occurs in Henry V. iv. i.
103 : " Even as men wracked upon a
sand, that look to be washed off the next
tide ! "
7. jump] risk, hazard, the future state.
If the blow ended the matter so far as
this world is concerned, we would risk
the world to come. Compare Corio-
lanus, in. i. 154: "to jump a body with
a dangerous physic " ; and Cymbeline,
V. iv. 188: "Jump the after injury at
your own peril." Keightley thinks the
"life to come" is not the future state,
but the remaining years of Macbeth's
own life ; and he compares Trail us and
Cressida, in. ii. 180 : —
" True swains in love shall in the
world to come
Approve their truths by Troilus."
8. have judgment] i.e. receive sent-
ence. See Hall's Chronicles, 244 : " He
confessed the inditement and had judg-
ment to be hanged." Shakespeare's
legal training will out.
8. that] so that, or, perhaps, in that,
because.
10. inventor] Malone quotes Bellen-
den's translation of Hector Boethius :
" He [Macbeth] was led be wod furyis,
as ye nature of all tyrannis is, quhilks
conquessis landis or kingdomes be
wransjus titil, ay ful of hevy thocht and
dredour, and traisting ilk man to do
siclik crueltes to hytn, as he did afore
to othir."
11. Commends . . . c/m//c(?l " For the
pricke of conscience (as it chanceth euer
in tyrants and such as atteine to anie
estate by vnrighteous means) caused him
euer to feare, least he should be serued
of the same cup, as he had ministered
to his predecessor." Holinshed, Hist.
Scot. ii. 172ft, Boswell-Stone, p. 33.
II. ingredients] Primaril}- used of
ac. VII.]
MACBETH
37
-T>~-
Xo-our own lips. lie 'sjiere in doijble. trust :
(First) as I am his kmiman andf iiis subject, /"^ -
^tfong'both against the deed ; then, as his host, ^''
Who should against his murderer shut the door, 1 5
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
Tlie deep damnat^ of his taking-off ; 20
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin, hors'd
16. bear'\ have Daniel conj. 22. cherubin,'] Cherubin Ff ; cherubim Jennens.
medical compositions and other artificial
material mixtures. Oxford Diet. Hol-
land's Pliny, 1601 (Explan. Words),
has: ^^Ingredients, be those simples
that goe vnto the making of any medi-
cine compound." Shakespeare perhaps
used the Foiio form ingredience, as also
in IV. i. 34, which was originally a mis-
spelling of the plural ingredients, and
subsequently confused with the singular
ingredient. See More, Answ. Povsoned
Bk. Wks. 1088/2: "Thys plaste'r . . .
hath som good ingredience " ; and
Holinshed, Chron. ii. 13/1 : " One
Tlieonicus wrote a proper treatise of
aqua vitae. . , . He declareth the
simples and ingrediences thereto be-
longing."
17. faculties'] powers, prerogatives of
the royal office. Still used in the old
sense in ecclesiastical law. Cowel's
Lc.'<v Diet. (1607) defines: "A privi-
ledge, or special power granted unto
a man by favour, indulgence, and
dispensation to do that which by
common law he cannot do."
Blount, Laiv Diet. (1670) s.v.
iS. clear] guiltless, spotless ;
quently in this sense.
20. taking-off] Compare in. i.
and King Lear, v. i. 65 : "devise
speedy taking-off."
21-25. And pity . . . the if ind]" This.
magnificent passage," says Moberly
(perhaps rather fancifully), " seems
founded on the history of Darnley's
murder. ' The banner (of the confed-
erates against Queen Mary) was spread
between two spears. The figure of a
dead man was wrought on it, lying
under a tree . . . and a child on its
knees at its side, stretching its hands to
the
See
fre-
104,
his
heaven and crying, Judge and revenge
my cause, O Lord I ' (Froude, History
of England, ix. p. 86)."
22. cherubin] "cherubins" is un-
doubtedly Shakespeare's form of the
plural, and there can be no objection to
it, even on the score of the line having
too many sibilants. Besides, he always
uses this form : and the plural is required
here. We have cherubins in Merchant
of Venice, v. i. 62 ; Troilus and Cressida,
in. ii. 74; Cymbeline, 11. iv. 88; and
Sonnet 114, 6. "Cherub" occurs in
Hamlet, iv. iii. 50; but "cherubin" is
Shakespeare's form for the singular ;
see Othello, iv. ii. 63, and Tempest, 1. ii.
152; and there is no reason to doubt
that he simply used the ordinary Eng-
lish plural, and not the Hebrew plural,
which he probably did not know.
" Cherubins," I believe, is the form
always found in Coverdale's Bible.
Spenser has " Cherubins " and " Sera-
phins " in his Hymne on Heavenly
Beautie, 92-94. This spelling seems to
be confirmed by the history of the word
given in the Oxford Diet., which says :
" As the plural was popularly much
better known than the singular [e.g. in
the Te Deum, 'cherubin') the Romanic
forms were all fashioned on cherubin.
. . . From the Middle English period
the popular forms were, as in French,
iherubin singular, cherubins plural.
Cherubin survived in popular use to the
eighteenth century. ... In the plural
cherubins is found from the thirteenth
century ; and although in MSS. of the
earlier Wyclifite versions, cherubyn is
more frequent (after the Vulgate) the
later version has aiways cherubins ; this
was retained in ordinary use till the
v'^
38 MACBETH [ACT 1.
Upon the sightless^ouriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every e}'e,
That tears shall drown the wind. — I have no spur 25
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other —
23. sightless] silent Theobald (ed. 2). coiirieys] Pope ; Ciirriors Ff ; coursers
Theobald (Warburton). 27. o'erleaps itself] ore-leapes it selfe F i ; o'erleaps
its sell Landor conj. 28. on the other — ] Rowe (//?') ; o» th' other. Ff ; on
th' other side Hanmer ; ttpon the other. Steevens conj.
seventeenth century. . . . Briefly, then,
cherubin, chcrubins are the original
English forms, as still in French."
These facts, together with Shake-
speare's own usage, as illustrated above,
seem to be conclusive of the true
reading.
23. sightless couriers] invisible run-
ners, i.e. the winds (Johnson). For
" sightless " in this sense, compare i. v.
49 ante. Steevens cites Warner's
Albion's England (r6o2), bk. ii. ch. xi. :
" The scouring winds that sightless in
the sounding air do fly."
25. tears . . . zvind] See Troilus
and Cressida, iv. iv. 55 : —
" Where are my tears?
Rain, to lay this wind."
25-28. / have . . . other — ] I have
no effective spur, says Macbeth, to
stimulate my guilty intention, I have
only ineffective soaring ambition —
ambition which assumes the role of a
too eager rider, who in vaulting into the
saddle o'erleaps himself and falls on the
other side of the steed. The metaphors
are bold and "mixed," so to speak:
or rather, as Professor Raleigh {Shake-
speare, 1907, p. 222) puts it : " not
mixed but successive," as in line 35
post, V. iii. 40, etc., but the sense is
clear enough. There can be no reason-
able doubt that Shakespeare wrote
'• side," and that it ought to come into
the text. He uses the exact expression,
though not quite the same metaphor,
in 1 Henry VI. n. iv. 51, where Somer-
set says : " And fall on my [the red
rose] side so against your will." It is
triflmg with the plain sense of the
passage to say, \\ith Steevens, that
Shakespeare, " having used the word
sides two lines above, would not have
written side here " ; or, with Grant
White, that "perhaps side was meant
to be understood with reference to the
occurrence of the word in the preced-
ing clause of the sentence " ; or, with
Symons (Irving Shakespeare), that "the
break in the metre comes very naturally
at the entrance of Lady Macbeth " ; or,
with Liddell, that " Macbeth's sentence
would probably have been completed
by ' side ' if Lady Macbeth had not
entered." Steevens might just as well
have remarked that because Mortimer,
in 1 Henry IV. ill. i. 108, speaks of the
Trent running him up —
" With Hke advantage on the other
side ;
Gelding the opposing continent as
much " —
Shakespeare could not have written the
following line : " As on the other side it
takes from you." And any of the above-
named commentators might just as well
have remarked that the word "break"
was meant to be understood after
" thunders " in i. ii. 26 ante ; the fact,
of course, being that it was carelessly
omitted by the Folio printers, .supplied
by Pope, and admitted into every text
up to the present day. A somewhat
analogous metaphor, derived from the
sport of tilting, occurs in As You Like
It, III. iv. 46, where Celia says of Or-
lando: "quite traverse, athwart the
heart of his lover ; as a puisny tilter
that spurs his horse but on one side."
(It was reckoned disgraceful for the
tilter to break his spear across the body
of his opponent, instead of breaking it
ii-. a direct line : Dyce, Glossary.) In
my opinion, Shakespeare is simply
thinking of a horseman failing to vault
into the saddle ; but Liddell {Macbeth,
1903) considers that " his figure is taken
from a common Elizabethan athletic
sport; compare Baret, Alvearie : 'a
vaulter that leapeth up and down from
a horse, desultor ' ; Cooper, Thesaurus,
1565, ' desiiltores, horsemen that in
sc. vii] MACBETH 39
Enter Lady Macbeth.
How now ! what news ?
Lady M. He has almost supp'd. Why have you left the
chamber ?
Mad). Hath he ask'd for me ?
Lady M. Know you not, he has ? 30
Macb. We wjll proceed no further in this business :
He hath honour*d"^frie of late i|and I have bought
Goklen opinions jfrom all'sorts of people,'
Which would be worn how in their newest_£k)s^>
Not cast as[de so soon.
Lady M. ^~" """" Was the hope drunk, 35
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since, uT.
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale ^fi^ '
At what it did so freely ? From this-Jime C^
Such I account thy love. Art thoii^afeard^
I To be the same in thin^ owxiacf^n^^^atour, 40
A£tKou~art^ir desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting " I^dare not" wait upon " I would," ^
Like the poor caTT the adage ?
Macb. Pr'ythee, peace. 45
I dare do all that may become a man ;
Who dares do more, is none.
30. not, he hasi'] not, he ha's? Ff; not? he has. Capell conj. 33. sorts]
sort Theobald. 45. adage?] C3.pt\\; Add age. F i. 47. do] Rowe; ko Ff.
battaile had two horses, and quickly for the use of "shall" and "will,"
would change horses, and leape from " should " and" would" in Elizabethan
one to an other'; ' rfes7(/^?/ra, vaulting English, iv. iii. 23, 195 post; and
from one horse to another.' It is pos- Richard II. iv. i. 232-3.
sible that other means the other horse. 35, 36. Was . . . since] Compare
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, etc. (ed. King John, iv. ii. 116, 117 : —
1S98, p. 319): 'William Stokes, a " O where hath our intelligence been
vaulting master of the seventeenth cen- drunk?
tury, boasted in a publication called Where hath it slept ? "
The Vaulting Master, etc., printed at 42. or«aw!^«< 0////V] the crown.
Oxford in 1652 that he had reduced 45. cat i' the adage] " The cate
vaulting to a method. In his book are would eate fyshe, and would not wet
several plates containing different speci- her feete," Heywood's Three Hundred
mens of his practice, which consisted Epignunmes, 1562 (Spenser Society ed.,
chiefly in leaping over one or more p. 28, and Bartlett, Familiar Quotations,
horses, or upon them, sometimes seat- p. 14). In Low Latin : " Catus amat
inghimself in the saddle, and sometimes pisces, sed non vult tingere plantas";
standing upon the same.' " and in French, "Le chat aime le poisson,
32. bought]ir\ the sense of" acquired" mais il n'aime pas a mouiller la patte."
or " purchased," frequently in the plays. 47. do more] Rowe's emendation is
34. would] i.e. should. Compare, certainly right ; and it is entirely sup-
40
MACBETH
[act 1,
Lady M. What beast was *t then,
That made you break this enterprise to me ?
— ]>• When you durst do it, then you were a man ;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place,
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both :
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 't is to love the babe that milks me :
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this. . q>^^
50
55
Macb.
Lady M.
If we should fail,-
We fail !
47. heast wa%^t'\ Boast wasH Collier (MS.). 51. the] than Hanmer. 55. me .]
Capell ; me — Rowe; me, Ff. 58, 59. And . . . this\ so Steevens {1793).
The Ff end line 58 at swi.>rne. 59. fail, — ] Theobald (ed. 2); fail ? —
Rowe ; fail ! Singer (ed. 2). fail /] Rowe ; faile ? Ff i, 2 ; fail. Capell.
ported by Measure for Measure, 11. iv.
134:—
*' Be that you are,
That is, a woman ; if you be more,
you're none."
Hunter retains "no," the Folio read-
ing, and assigns the whole ofline 47 to
Lady Macbeth ; but, as the Clar. Edd.
remark : " the ' then ' which follows,
seems more appropriate to the first
clause of an indignant remonstrance if
we adopt Rowe's emendation."
47. beast] The whole force of the
passage lies in the direct dramatic con-
trast to Macbeth's "man" in the pre-
vious line. Compare Rotneo and Juliet,
111. iii. 109-113 : " Art thou a man ?
. . . fury of a beast," etc. Collier's
"boast" is merely one of those subtle,
though ingenious follies of useless criti-
cism (like Coleridge's " blank height " of
the dark), with which the text of Shake-
speare is encumbered ; and, as the Clar.
Edd. remark, " it is utterly inadmis-
sible."
52. adhere] " It is not the coherence
of time with place : but the adherence of
these two with the murder of the king,"
savs Capell (ii. 9).
58. the brains] "The" frequently
takes the place of the possessive pronoun
" his " ; " its " being of course the later
form. The Clar. Edd. compare Bacon's
Advancement of Learning, i. 4, s. i :
" For we see that it is the manner of
men to scandalize and deprave that
which retaineth the state and virtue " ;
and Aldis Wright in his note on Bacon
quotes Holland's Plutarch, p. 812 (ed.
1603) : " Aristotle and Plato doe holde,
that matter is corporall, without forme,
shape, figure and qualitie, in the owne
nature and propertie."
59. We fail !] Lady Macbeth exclaims
against the very idea of failure. The
note of interrogation in the Folio is
frequently equivalent to the note of
exclamation, both being originally varia-
tions of the semi-colon. Capell thought
the punctuation should be a full stop ;
but, as Steevens remarks : " ' we fail 1 '
is the hasty interruption of scornful im-
patience; 'we fail.' is the calm deduc-
tion of a mind, which, having weighed
all circumstances, is prepared, without
loss of confidence in itself, for the worst
that can happen." Dyce, in his Re-
marks, etc., 1844, says : " There is in
realitj' no difference ; whether the words
be pointed ' we fail 1 ' or ' we fail ? ' (and
I much prefer the former method) they
can only be understood as an impatient
and contemptuous repetition of Mac-
beth's 'we fail?' Any kind of admis-
sion on the part of Lady Macbeth, that
the attempt might prove unsuccessful,
appears to me quite inconsistent with
all that she has previously said, and all
SC. VII.]
MACBETH
41
But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 60
i And we '11 not fail. When Duncan is asleep
) (Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
\ Soundly invite him), his two chamberlains
'. Will I with wine and wassail so convince,
( That memory, the warder of the brain, 65
j Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
i A limbeck only : when in swinish sleep
\ Their drenched natures lie, as in a death,
i What cannot you and I perform upon
.' Th' unguarded Duncan? what not put upon 70
I His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
Macd. Bring forth men-children only !
that she afterwards says, in the present
scene."
60. But] i.e. onl}'.
60. screw . . . sticking-place'] The
metaphor is in all probability derived,
as Steevens thought, from the screwing
up of the chords of stringed instruments.
Similarly, in Twelfth Night, v. i. 125 : —
" And that I partly know the instru-
ment
That screws me from my true place
in your favour."
In Troilus and Cressida, in. iii. 22 : —
"But this Antenor,
I know, is such a wrest in their
affairs,
That their negotiations all must
slack"
And in Coriolaniis,i.v'n\. 11: "Wrench
up thy power to the highest." Paton
and Liddell think the metaphor was
probably suggested by a soldier screw-
ing up the cord of his cross-bow to the
" sticking-place."
63. Soundly , . .chamberlaiHs]Shci\it-
speare evidently borrowed the idea of
the two chamberlains from Holinshed's
account of the murder of King Dttff by
Donwald and his wife many years before
Duncan's time. See Hist. Scot. ii.
150, Boswell-Stone, p. 26.
64. convince] conquer, overpower,
convincere. Compare iv. iii. 142.
65-67. memory . . . limbeck only]
Shakespeare evidently knew of the
division by the old anatomists of the
brain into three ventricles, in the hinder-
most of which, viz. the cerebellum, they
placed the memory. See Love's
Labour's Lost, iv. ii. 70: "the?e are
begot in the ventricle of memory."
Memory, the warder of the cerebellum,
warns the reason against attack ; and
where converted by intoxication into a
fume or smoke, it fills the brain, the
receptacle of reason, which thus be-
comes like an " alembic " or cap of a
still. Compare Cymbeiine, iv. ii. 301 :
" A bolt of nothing, shot at nothing,
which the brain makes of fumes " ; and
Tempest, v. i. 67 : —
" the ignorant/«w^i that mantle
Their clearer reason."
67. limbeck] The corrupt form of
" alembic," a word adopted into most
European languages from the Arabic of
the iVIoorish alchemists of Spain. The
derivation is al, the Arabic "the " and
S^3i{, the cap of the still into which
the fumes rise before they pass into the
condenser. Compare So;»;^^ 119 : —
" Siren tears.
Distilled from limbecks foul as hell
within."
71. spongy] drunken. Compare
Merchant of Venice, i. ii. 108: "ere I'll
be married to a sponge."
72. quell] murder : as a substantive
only in this passage, though the verb
occurs five or six times in the plays. It
is from the same root as "kill," i.e. the
A.S. cwellan. Florio, Worldc of
Wordes, 1598, has " Mazzare : to kill,
to slay, to quell,'' Compare 2 Henry
IV, II. i. 58: "a man-queller and a
woman-queller " ; and Hamlet, iii. iv
169 (where the true reading is) : —
" And either quell the devil or throw
him out
With wondrous potency."
42 MACBETH [act i.
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be receiv'd,
vs.^'%*'^^^ When jrt^e have mark^ with blood those sleepy two 75
Ofhis o\vTi^hamber,^ndjJs'd their very daggers,
ThatJtH^hayedmie^'t?^^ ^
Lady M. Who dares receive it other,
-As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death ?
Macb. I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. 80
Away, and mock the time with fairest show :
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
\Exeunt.
76. a«(i] om. Capell conj.
73. mettle] i.e. material. In man\' 78. As] inasmuch as, seeing that,
passages of the plays the same word as 80. Each corporal agetit] each bodily
"metal," from which it had not been faculty. "Corporal" for corporeal, as
distinguished in Elizabethan English. frequently. Compare Henry V. iii. i.
74. received] i.e. as a truth. Compare 16 : —
Measure for Measure, i. iii. 16 : — " Hold hard the breath and bend up
" For so I've strevv'd it in the com- every spirit
mon ear, To his full height."
And so it is received." The metaphor of course is from the
77. other] otherwise. Compare stringing of a bow.
Othello, IV. ii. 13 : — 81. mock the time] Compare I. v. 63,
" If you think other, etc.
Remove your thought."
ACT II
SCENE I. — The same. Court within the castle.
Enter BaNQUO, and Fleance, with a torch before him.
Ban. How goes the night, boy ?
Fie. The moon is down ; I have not heard the clock.
Ban. And she goes down at twelve.
Fie. I take 't, 't is later, Sir.
Ban. Hold, take my sword. — There 's husbandry in heaven ;
Their candles are all out. — Take thee that too. 5
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
And yet I would not sleep : merciful powers !
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature
Gives way to in repose ! — Give me my sword.
Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch.
r Who's there? lo
^^ Macb. A friend.
\ Ban. What, Sir! not yet at rest? The king's a-bed :
4. Hold. . . . heaven ;] two lines Ff, one line Rowe. 7-9. And ... re-
pose .'] so Rowe ; Ff end 7 and 8 with sleepe : and thoughts respectively.
Scene /.] Macbeth's determination is 5. Their] for the plural, compare
further assured by the vision of the Richard II. i, ii. 7 : —
dagger. The scene is probably in the " Put we our quarrel to the will of
inner court of the castle, which Banquo heaven :
would cross on his way to his quarters. Who, when they see the hours ripe
a torch] " In the stage-direction of on earth," etc.
old plays," says Dyce, '"a Torch' 5. candles . , . out] Compare Romeo
sometimes means a torch-bearer, as 'a and Juliet, iii. v. 9: " Night's candles
Trumpet ' means a trumpeter.'" Com- are burnt out " ; and Merchant of Venice,
pare i. vi. init. v. i. 220: " By these blessed candles of
4. husbandry] thrift, frugality, care- the night."
ful management. Florio, Worlde of 5. thee] Here a dative form, as in I. v.
lyorrf^i, 1598, has: "Parsimonia,/'ar«- 25: "Hie thee thither," An unem-
monie, sparing, husbandrie." Compare phatic pronoun used after imperatives,
Timon of Athens, 11. ii, 169 : " If you 5. ^/mf] probably his shield or targe,
suspect my husbandry.'' possibly a dagger or cloak.
43
44
MACBETH
[act u.
He hath been in unusual pleasure, and
/Sent forth great largess to your offices.
\This diamond he greets your wife withal,
By the name of most kind hostess, and shut up
15
20
In measureless content.
Macb. Being unprepar'd,
Our will became the servant to defect,
Which else should free have wrought.
Ban. All's well,
Ijirearnt last night of the three weird sisters:
To^ypiLtKey^haye show'd some truth.
Macb.^ " ' I think not of them :
Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
We would spend it in some words upon that business,
If you would grant the time.
Ban. At your kind'st leisure.
13. a«rf] begins line 14 Ff. 14. officei\ Ff ; officers Rowe. 16, 17. By
. . . conteni'] so Pope ; Ff end line 16 with Hostesse. 16. and shut up] And
shut vp F 1; And shut it up Ff 2, 3, 4; and's shut up lla.nmti ; a>id shut
him up Kinnear conj. ig. All 'swell] Ff; All's very well Hanmer; Sir,
all is well Steevens conj. 20. weird] weyward Ff.
14. offices] i.e. servants' quarters.
Malone considers, and I think rightly
considers, the " offices " of the Folio to
be a palpable misprint, and Dyce and
Walker [Crit. Exam. ii. 53) agree with
him. Compare "his spongy officers "
in I. vii. 71 ante ; and Taming of the
Shrew, iv. i. 50: "and every officer his
wedding garment on." Lettsom points
out that the same error is found in
Webster's Dutchesse of Malfy, 11. ii.
(ed. 1623), when Antonio, having had
all the officers of the court called up,
afterwards says ; "All the offices
here ? " and the servants reply, " We
are."
16. and shut up] As the Clar. Edd.
point out, if " shut " is to be construed
as a participle, according to the Folio
reading and shut up, the transition is
strangely abrupt, and Grant White
thinks the passage is "quite surely
corrupt." Hanmer's reading " and 's "
does least violence to the old text ; and
it is possible that the " 's " may have
dropped out before the initial letter of
"shut." The meaning seems to be
"confined" or "concluded"; the idea
being that the King having indulged
"in unusual pleasure" (of the table)
has concluded his evening " in measure-
less content." The phrase is illustrated
by Spenser's Faerie Queeue, iv. ix. 15 :
"And, for to shut up all in friendly
love " ; and by Shakespeare himself,
e.g. in All's Well that Ends Well, i.
i. 197 : " Whose baser stars do shut us
up ill wishes" (/.^.^ confine us only to
wishes) ; Troilus and Cressida, i. iii.
58:-
" /;; whom the tempers and the
minds of all
Should be s/n/^ up."
And Timon of Athens, iv. iii. 279:
" Were all the wealth I have shut up in
thee."
17-19. Being . . . wrought] i.e. We
were unprepared for the King's coming,
and hence our zeal or will to serve him,
which otherwise would have shown
itself in more liberal entertainment,
perforce could only furnish a defective
one.
20-21. / dreamt . . . some truth]
These words of Banquo seem almost a
veiled incitement 10 Macbeth to " that
sinister business " (see line 23 supra)
and " the bloody business " (see line 48
infra), which haunts the minds of both ;
and ^lacbeth replies, in a strain of ex-
aggerated but obscure courtesy, with
the offer of honours to Banquo.
SC. I.]
MACBETH
45
Macb. If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis, 25
It shall make honour for you.
Ban. So I lose. none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchis'd, and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsell'd.
Macb. Good repose, the while !
Ban. Thanks, Sir : the like to you. 30
[Exeunt Banquo and Fleance.
Macb. Go, bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready.
She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. —
{Exit Set'vant.
Is this a dagger, which I see before me,
25. my consent] Ff; my ascent Capell conj. ; my content Malone conj. ;
my consort Grant White conj. 25, 26. 7vhen ^t is . . . you] so Rowe ; one
line Ff.
25. cleave to my consent, when 't is]
i.e. become or remain an adherent of
my party when it exists or is set on
foot, or, perhaps, when the time comes
when " that business " is accompHshed ;
or, as Case suggests, " when we have
our talk." The phrase " to be of con-
sent" meant to be accessory; see
Grafton, Chronicle, ii. 74 (1568) : " The
Pope cursed the deede doers with such
as were of their consent, eyther that
ayded or harboured them " ; and As You
Like It, II. ii. 3 : —
" Some villains of my court
Are 0/ consent and sufferance in
this."
A usage now obsolete meant a party
united by common agreement, fellow-
ship or adherence to an opinion: Ox-
ford Diet., which quotes Baret, Al-
vearie, c. 1070: "A diuers consent in
sundrie wilful opinions, a sect, a schole
or maner of teaching"; and Florio's
Montaigne {1603), i. 56, 175: "Even
those which are not of our consent, doe
flattly inhibite . . . the use of the sacred
name." Owing to the frequent con-
fusion in Middle English of s and c, as
the Dictionary points out, the v.-ord was
often spelt concent down to the sixteenth
century, and was thus liable to confu-
sion with musical concent, when this
latter word was introduced. From the
approximation of sense, it is in some
passages difficult to say which of the
two was meant ; and hence the remark
of Steevens; "'Consent' has some-
times the power of the Latin Coticentus :
see i? Henry IV. v. i. 78 : ' their
spirits are so married in conjunction
with the participation of society that
they flock together in consent, like so
many wild geese.' "
26-28. honour . . . franchis'd . . .
allegiance] As Liddell well points out,
Banquo here seems to be associating
honour with the feudal sense of the
word, viz. "lordship," and to mean to
say that Banquo's honours must be
honours of " free tenure " as far as
Macbeth is concerned. He carries the
notion further in " allegiance clear," i.e.
such fealty as no man may owe to more
than one lord : most commonly of
course to the Kmg. This is another
example of Shakespeare's skill in the
use of legal terms.
31. bid] i.e. ask.
31. drink] i.e. the posset drunk before
retiring. Compare 11. ii. 6 post and
note thereon ; and Merry Wives of
Windsor, v. v. 180 : " Thou shalt eat a
posset to-night at my house."
33. Is this a dagger, etc.] Seymour,
Remarks, etc., 1S05, i. p. 196, thinks the
usual delivery of this passage on the
stage, i.e. with an expression of terror
and surprise, is a misconception. If
the vision were terrible, the irresolute
spirit of Macbeth would shrink from it,
but the effect is confidence and anima-
tion, and he tries to lay hold of the
dagger. I agree with James Sheridan
Knowles, Lectures on Dramatic Litera-
46
MACBETH
[act II.
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch
thee : —
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. 35
Art thou not, fatal vision^ sejisible
\ To^feelmg, as to sight? or art thou but
)A dagger of the mind, a false creation, -
^ Pfoce^drng~TrqiTQhe_.heStropgiiCssejij3r^^^^^
'^ I see thee yet, in form as palpable 40
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going ;
And such an instrument I was to use. —
' Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest : I see thee still ; 45
And on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood,
Which was hoT'so before. — There'^no'suchThing.
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. — Now o'er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse 50
ture, 1843, p. 43, who says: " I have long
entertained the opinion that this dagger
is an apparition coming and vanishing
as the witches themselves do, and that
consequently it ought to be actually
presented, as indeed it used to be. . . .
It is a phantom raised by the witches
to draw Macbeth on to his conclusion."
E. K. Chambers thinks the dagger
should not be in the air, but on a
table.
36. fatal] perhaps " prophetic."
Compare " the fatal bellman " of ii. ii.
3 post.
36. sensible] i.e. capable of being per-
ceived by the senses, perceptible. John-
son quotes from Hooker, Ecclesiastical
Polity [bk. i. vii. i] : " By reason man
attaineth unto the knowledge of things
that are and are not sensible " ; and see
Florio's Worldeof Wonies, 1598 : " Per-
cettibile, perceivable, sensible " ; and
Cotgrave, Diet. 1611: "Perceptible:
perceivable, sensible,'^
46. dudgeon] haft, handle. The Ox-
ford Diet, gives (i) a kind of wood used
by turners, especially for handles of
knives, daggers, etc., obsolete. (2) The
hilt of a da^rjger, made of this wood.
The Clar. Edd. quote Arnold's Chron-
icle, ed. 181 1, p. 245, referring to the
will of John Arnell dated 1473, wherein
the testator bequeaths "all my stuf
beyng in my shoppe, that is to save.
yvery, dogeon, horn, mapyll, and the
toel yt belongeth to my crafte," etc.
Craig compares Gascoigne, To the
Reader, prefixed to Posies (1575) : " The
most knottie piece of boxe may be
wrought to a fayre doogen." Gerarde
in his Herball, ed. 1597, speaks of the
root of the box-tree, " Turners and
cutlers, if I mistake not the matter, do
calle this woode dudgeon, whence they
make dudgeon hafted daggers." And
Cotgrave, Diet. i5ii, has " Dague a
roelles : A Scoltifh dagger ; or Dudgeon
haft dagger''; i.e., one turned wiih
little spiral rings to give a better grip.
So that the word seems particularly
appropriate in a Scottish tragedy.
46. gouts] drops, Fr. gotttte. The
Oxford Diet, gives (2) In the original
etymological sense of ' drop,' (5) A drop
of liquid, especially of blood. In the
later use, after Shakespeare, it tends to
mean a large splash or clot.
48. informs] Perhaps meaning " takes
form or shape." See note on i. v. 33
ante.
49, 50. o'er . . , dead^ " that is, over
our hemisphere all action and motion
seem to have ceased " (Johnson). Malone
compares the second part of Marston's
Antonio and Mcllida, 1602 (i. i. 3-8,
and 18-21, ed. Bullen): '"Tis yet dead
night," etc.
SC. I.]
MACBETH
47
The curtain'd sleep : witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings ; and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. — Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my where-about.
And take the present horror from the time.
55
51. zvitchcraft] now witchcraft Rowe (Davenant's version). 55. strides]
Pope; sides Ff. 56. sure] Capell (Pope conj.) ; sowre F i; sound Pope.
57. which ivay they] Rowe ; which they may Ff.
51. The . . . celebrates] A manifestly
imperfect line, as Dyce justly remarks.
D' Avenant's now before " witchcraft " is
almost certainly right. Knight, fol-
lowed by Collier in this, had " no
doubt that Shakespeare introduced the
long pause [i.e. between * sleep ' and
' witchcraft '] to add to the solemnity
of the description." There is, if any-
thing, still less doubt that Shakespeare
did nothing of the kind ; and it is quite
time that this pernicious and caco-
phonous heresy of the "pause" or
"unstressed impulse" (whatever that
may mean) received its quietus.
51. curtain'd sleep] Milton has " con-
veyed " this image into his Comics, 554,
writing of the steeds "That draw the
litter of close-curtain'd sleep." Milton
at any rate followed the Folio reading,
and Steevens's conjecture sleeper has
met with little acceptance, though it is
quite possibly the true reading.
52. Hecate] the goddess of classical
and medieval witchcraft. Compare
Ben Jonson's note to his Masque of
Qiceenes (1609), ed. Gifford, 1843, p.
571 : " Hecat . . . she was believed
to governe in witchcraft and is remem-
bered in all their invocations." The
word is a dissyllable here, as in King
Lear, i. i. 112: "The mysteries of
Hecate and the night." In Eliza-
bethan writers classical proper names
assumed various forms, to suit rhyme
and metre. " Celebrates " is used in
respect of the rites attending the offer-
ings to Hecate.
53. Alarum'd] Compare King Lear,
II. i. 55 : " My best alarum'd spirits."
54. Whose . . . watch] " His (the
murderer's) w^ay of knowing the pass-
age of the night" (Craig). Compare
Liccrece, 370.
55. ravishing] The notion of swift-
ness or rapidity is involved in this
word, as in Middle English. Compare
Chaucer's Buethius, bk. iv. met. vi. 25.
(Skeat, vol. ii. p. 122.)
55. strides] Pope's emendation is
certainly sound, though Johnson and
Knight object to " stride " as implying
violence or impetuosity ; but the word
is coupled with " tedious " in Richard
II. I. lii. 26S ; and Spenser has no idea
of violence in Faerie Queene, iv. viii.
37: " With easy steps so soft as foot
could stride.'" And Tarquin stalks in-
to the chamber of Lucrece, see Ltirrece,
365. Case aptly refers to " the long
tip-toe stealing steps one takes, in order
to avoid sound by planting the feet as
seldom as possible." Liddell reads
slides, which he says, " involves only
one confusion, that of the tall f and fl
which were single types " ; and he
quotes Cooper's Thesaurus, " Lapsus
serpentum, the sliding, s:lidiug, or
creeping of a serpent'' ; and Cotgrave's
Diet., " Griller : to glide, slip, slide,
steal " ; and compares Lucrece, 305 and
362.
57. my steps . . . walk] A common
Greek construction, found especially in
the New Testament, and used also by
Shakespeare in King Lear, i. i. 272 :
" I know you, what you are."
58. where-about] Compare "where"
as a substantive. King Lear, i. i 264 :
" Thou losest here a better where to
find"; and Comedy of Errors. 11. ii.
45 : " They say every why haih a
wherefore."
48
MACBETH
[act II.
Which now suits with it. — Whiles I threat, he lives : 60
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
[A bell rings.
I j;o,_and..it is^one : the bell invites me.
HeaHt^notj Dun«ai \_ for it is a knell
That^suramons thee to heaven^or to hell. ^JExit
SCENE II. — The same.
Enter Lady Macbeth.
Lady M. That which hath niade them drunk hath made me
_boia^T — " — '^' ' ' ~^ "
What hath quench'd them hath given me fire. — Hark ! —
Peace !
It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,
Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it.
60. Whiles] lF/u75<Rowe; iy/u/« Capell.
Scene 11.
2-6. What . . . possets,'\ so Rowe ; Ff end respectively _/f/r. shriek'd, night,
open : charge Possets,
61. Words . . . givts] The Clar.
Edd. call this line a "feeble taj^" and
think it may be an interpolation.
Possibly ; but it is not unsuitable to
Macbeth's character and his tendency
to " speechifying."
SCBXE II.
Scene //.] " If we recall for a mo-
ment the castle architecture with which
Shakespeare was familiar — for instance,
that of Kenilworth — we have a large
courtyard with a flight of steps in one
corner leading up to the sleeping-rooms,
such as is shown in the cut of Kenil-
worth in 1620 which is prefixed to the
New Shakespeare Society's edition of
Robert Laneham's Letter. It is in this
courtyard that Scene i. takes place. In
these quadrangular houses the hall oc-
cupied one side of the building, and out
of this, at one end, a flight of steps led
to a lobby which opened on the guest-
chamber. ... In the theatre this lobby
would, of course, be the usual gallery
or balcony at the back of the stage.
Duncan and his two grooms of the
chamber would naturally be lodged in
the guest-chamber ; back of this would
be the ' second chamber,' occupied by
Donalbain and another. Such an ar-
rangement would be familiar to the
Elizabethan audience, and explains
clearly the action of the scene "
(Liddell).
I. hold\ Furness quotes Mrs. Grif-
fith's Morality of Shakespeare's Dramas,
^775' P- 412: "Shakespeare seems to
think that a woman could not be ren-
dered completely wicked without some
degree of intoxication. It required two
vices in her, one to intend, and another
to perpetrate the crime."
3. the fatal bellman] The Clar. Edd.
show the significance of this passage
by comparing Webster's Duchess of
Malf, IV. ii. (Dyce ed. 1857, p.
886) :—
" 1 am the common bellman,
That usually is sent to condemn'd
persons
The night before they suffer " ;
and Spenser's Faerie Queene, v. vi. 27,
where the cock is called " the fatal bell-
man of the night." This latter pas-
sage would seem to imply that Shake-
speare refers to the " bellman which
goeth before a corps, pracco feralis "
(quoted by Liddell from the Phraseo-
logia Generalis, 1681); so that "the
stern'st good-night " would mean the
last good-night of death.
sc. u.]
MACBETH
49
The doors are open ; and the surfeited groom.^ 5
Do mock their charge with snores : I have drugg'd their
possets,
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they Hve, or die.
Mach. [ Within.'] Who 's there ?— what, ho !
Lady M. Alack ! I am afraid they have awak'd.
And 't is not done : — the attempt and not the deed lO
Confounds us. — Hark! — I laid their daggers ready;
He could not miss them. — Had he not resembled \
My father as he slept, I had don^"^~^^My husband !
Enter Macbeth.
Macb. I have done the deed. — Didst thou not hear a noise?
Lady M. I heard the owl scream, and the crickets cry. 1 5
Did not you speak ?
Macb. When ?
Lady M. Now.
Macb. As I descended ?
Lady M. Ay.
Macb. Hark!
Who lies the second chamber ?
Lady M. Donalbain.
10. attempt and. . . deed] Camh.Edd. (Hunter conj.) ;atietnpt, and . . . deed,
Ff; attempt, and . . . deed Rowe, Pope, Haiimer; attempt and . . . deed,
Warburton, Johnson, Var. '73, Singer (ed. 2). 14. / . . . noise?] one line
Rowe, two line.s Ff. 16. Did . . . descended ?] Macb. Did . . . speak?
Lady M. When ? Now ? Macb. As . . . descended. Hunter conj. ; Macb. Did
. . . speak? Lady M. When? Macb. Noii\ as I descended. Fleay conj.
(Shakespeariana, Dec. 1884, apjid Camb. Edd.). 18, 19. Hark ! . . , chamber?]
so Steevens (1793) ; one line Ff.
5. grooms] serving - men ; menial
servants of any kind. See the Oxford
Diet, for the etymology of the word, so
far as this is known.
6. possets] Malone quotes Randle
Holme's Academy of Arnionrie, 1688,
bk. iii. p. 84 : " Posset is hot milk
poured on ale or sack, having sugar,
grated bisket, eggs, with other ingredi-
ents boiled in it, which goes all to a
curd." See note on 11. i. 31. The
Oxford Diet, quotes {inter alia) J. Rus-
sell, Book Nurture (1460), 94 : " milke,
crayme, and cruddes, and eke the lon-
cate, they close a mannes stomak and
so doth the possate."
8. Who's there ?] Macbeth loses con-
trol over himself, and breaks out into an
exclamation, fancying he hears a noise
(see line 14). The direction [within] was
added by Steevens, as the Folio makes
Macbeth enter before speaking ; but
the next lines show that Lady Macbeth
is alone.
10. attempt . , . deed] The Folio
punctuation appears to be correct.
They will face the fact of the murder
when accomplished, but an unsuccess-
ful attempt would mean ruin. " To
me at least," says Dyce, " it is plain
that here ' the attempt ' is put in strong
opposition to 'the deed," and that
' confound ' has no reference to future
mischief, but solely to the perplexity
and consternation of the moment."
12, 13. Had he . . . done 't] The 1
remorse of the woman, not the Tin- \J_
sexed monster. ~^ >'~
/
50 MACBETH [act n.
Macb. This is a sorry sight. ,20
Lady M. A foolish thought to say a sorry sight.
Macb. There 's one did laugh in 's sleep, and one cried,
"Murder!"
That they did wake each other: I stood and heard
them ;
But they did say their prayers, and address'd them
Again to sleep.
Lady M. There are two lodg'd together. 25
Macb. One cried, " God bless us ! " and, " Amen," the other,
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands.
Listening their fear, I could not say, "Amen,"
When they did say, " God bless us ".
Lady M. Consider it not so deeply.
Macb. But wherefore could not I pronounce " Amen " ? 30
I had most need of blessing, and " Amen "
Stuck in my throat.
Lady M. These deeds must not be thought
After these ways : so, it will make us mad.
Macb. Methought, I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep," — the innocent sleep ; 35
Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
22-25. There's . . . sleep.] so Rowe ; Ff. end respectively sleepe, other : Prayers,
sleepe. 24. address'd] address Theobald. 32. thought] thought on Han-
mer. 36. sleave] Steevens (Seward conj.) ; Sleeue Ff.
20. sorry] See Skeat's Diet, for an 324: "These things further thought
interesting article on the etymology of on " ; but it is not essential,
this word, showing that the true form 34-39. Methought . . . life's feast]
was sory, the form soarye occurring in It cannot be determined from the Folio
Stanyhurst's translation of Virgil's where the " voice " is supposed to end.
Aeneid, 1582, ii. 651 (ed. Arber, p. 64). Hanmer printed in italics as far as
The original sense was "wounded," "feast"; and Johnson, who is followed
"afflicted," and hence "miserable," by nearly all subsequent editors, first
" sad," "•pitiable," etc. adopted the arrangement in the text.
24. address'd them] prepared them- As the Clar. Edd. remark: "it seems
selves. Compare Merchant of Venice, more natural to suppose that 'the inno-
II. ix. 19 : " and so have I address'd cent sleep, etc. ' is a comment made by
tne." Macbeth upon the words he imagined
27. As] as if. Compare King Lear, he had heard." The voice " may have
III. iv. 15: "Is it not as this mouth had its origin in the shouting of drunken
should tear this hand ? " etc. revellers in another part of the house,"
27. hangman] executioner. Com- says Liddell.
pare Merchant of Venice, iv, i. 125: 36. sleave] According to Malone,
"the hangman's axe." sleave appears to have signified coarse
28. Listening] Compare, for the tran- and soft unwrought silk, the Italian
sitive use, Julius Ctrsar, iv. i. 41 : seta grossolane. See Florio, Worlde of
" Listen great things." Wordes : " Sfilazra : Any kinde of
32. thought] We might read, with raveled stuffe, or sleaue silk." Id.
Hanmer and Capell, thought on, as in " Capitone, a kinde of courft filke,
lu. ii. 10, post, and Twelfth Night, v. i. called fleaue filke." Cotgrave renders
SC. II.]
MACBETH
51
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, ^
Chief nourisher in life's feast ; —
Lady M. What do you mean ?
Macb. Still it cried, " Sleep no more ! " to all the house : 40
"Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more ! "
Lady M. Who was it that tlius~cned7 Why, worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength, to think
So brainsickly of things. G9,.^get_some^vater, 45
And wash this filthy witness from your hand. —
WKy^iKl>^~u~bring~"these^ daggers from the place?
They must lie there : go, carry them, and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
Macb. I 'U^gg^no more :
I am afraid to think what I have done ; 5°
Look on 't again I dare not.
Lady M . Infirrn of purpose !
Give me the daggers. The sleeping, and the dead,
37. death] birth Warburton.
50. whai]on what Keightley.
39. feast : — ] feast. — Theobald ; Feast. FT.
"Soye flofche " by sleave silk; also
" Cadarce pour faire capiton " by The
tmv, or coiirfeft part of silke, 7vhereof
fleave is made. See also Troilus and
Crcssida, v. i. 35 : " Thou idle im-
material skein of sleave silk."
Steevens refers to Holinshed, p. 835^
[vol. 3, Henrie the Eight]: "Eight
wild men, all apparalled in greene moffe
made of sleued silke." The whole pas-
sage reminds us of Ovid's Metam. xi.
624 of " Somnus " : —
" Pax animi, quem cura fugit, qui
corda diurnis
Fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque
labori " ;
which Shakespeare had certainly read
in his favourite translation by Golding,
1587 (ed. 1593, p. 140; xi. 723-6, ed.
Rouse, 1904) : —
" O fleepe (quoth fhe) the reft of
things : O gentleft of the Goddes,
Sweete fleepe, the peace of minde
with whom crookt care is aye at
ods:
Which cherifhest men's weary
limbes appalld with toyling fore,
Ayd makeft them as frefh to worke,
and luftie as before."
Seneca, Hercules Furens, 1068 sqq..
may also have been in Shakespeare's
mind.
38, 39. second . . . nourisher'] Pud-
ding appears anciently to have been the
first course at dinner (" so, Per tompus
advenis, you come in pudding time, you
come as well as may be," Terence in
English, 1614), the joint or roast being
the " second " — the piece de resistance.
Steevens quotes from Chaucer, Squire's
Tale (C.T. 1066 1, ed. Pollard, 347,
vol. ii. p. 205) : " The norice of digestion,
the sleep."
41, 42. Glatnis . , . more] See note on
the Folio printing, 34-39 supra. John-
son was of opinion that the voiceonly said
" Glamis hath murdered sleep," the rest
being Mac'oeth's comment. But it is ex-
tremely difficult to distinguish between
the voice of conscience and its comment.
45. brainsickly] The adverbial form is
not found elsewhere in Shakespeare,
although the adjective occurs several
times.
46. wash] Note the working of Lady
Macbeth's mind in the " sleep-walking
scene," v. i. 59 post.
46. witness] evidence. Compare
Merchant of Venice, i. iii. 100 : " An
evil soul producing holy tvitness."
52
MACBETH
[act II.
Are but as pictures ; 't is the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I '11 gild the faces of the grooms withal, 5 5
For it must seem their guilt. {Exit. — Knocking within.
Macb. Whence is that knocking ?—
How is 't with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? Ha ! they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand ? No, this my hand will rather 60
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
61. incarnadine,] Rowe ; incarnardine, Ff. 62. the green one red.] the
Green one Red. F 4 ; the Greene one, Red Ff i, 2, 3 ; the green, One red —
Johnson ; the green — one red. Steevens (1778), Murphy, conj.
54. painted devil] Webster has imi-
tated this in his White Devil (Dyce, ed.
1857, p. 22a) : " Terrify babes, my lord,
with pai)ited devils."
55> 56' g^^'i • • • g^'i^i] This ghastly
quibble may have been intended by
Shakespeare to " enhance the horror "
of the scene. In the old ballads parti-
cularly gold was almost always styled
"red." Compare the "golden blood"
of II. iii. 115 ; and King John, n. i. 316 :
" armours ... all gilt with Frenchmen's
blood"; and for the pun, 2 Henry IV,
IV. V. 129 : " England shall double gild
his treble guilt."
56. knocking] See the introductory
note to scene iii. of this Act.
59. Neptune's ocean] Many quotations
from the classics illustrate this great
passage ; e.g. Upton, Critical Observa-
tions, 1746, compares Sophocles, Oedip.
Tyr. 1227: —
" Oruoi yap ovt' av ''icrrpov ovre (paffiv
'&u
Ni'i|/ot KaOapfjiOi rrivSf tjjv a'r4yi]v.'
Steevens compares Catullus, 88, 5, In
Gellium : —
" Suscipit, O Gelli, quantum non ul-
tima Tethys,
Non genitor Nympharum abluat
Oceanus."
And Seneca, Hifpolytus, ii. 715 (which
Shakespeare may have read) : —
" Quis eluet me Tanais ? aut quae
barbaris
Maeotis undis Pontico incumbens
mari ?
Non ipse toto magnus Oceano
pater
Tantum expiaritsceleris ! "
But it does not follow that Shakespeare
had read these in the originals.
61. multitudinous seas] By this
Shakespeare meant, according to
Malone, and 1 see no reason to doubt
the interpretation, not the multitude of
creatures which inhabit the seas, not
the many-waved ocean, but the count-
less masses of waters wherever dis-
persed on the surface of the globe, " the
multitudes of seas," as Heywood has it.
The passage is from Heywood's [sic,
but rather Munday and Chettle's]
Death of Robert, Earl of Hunting-
don, 1601, II. ii. (vol. viii. p. 268,
ed. Hazlitt's Dodsley 1874): "The
niiiliitudes of seas dj^ed red with
blood."
61. incarnadine] Properly, as the
Oxford Diet, remarks, to make flesh-
coloured or carnation ; but from Shake-
speare onward associated with the colour
of blood. As a verb it does not seem to
be found in any English author prior
to Shakespeare. Cotgrave has " In-
carnadin " both as a substantive and
an adjective, and translates it by car-
nation, or. more properly a deep, rich,
or bright carnation. And see Syl-
vester, Du Bartas, i. 5, 609 (1591) : —
" Her wings and train of feathers
(mixed fine)
Of orient azure and incarnadine."
62. Making . . . red] i.e. changing
sc. II.] MACBETH 53
Re-enter Lady MACBETH.
Lady M . My haiids are of your colour ; but I shame
To wear a heart so white. {Knock.'l I hear a
knocking
At the south entry : — retire we to our chamber. 65
A little water clears us of this deed :
How easy"is it then ! Your constancy
Hatti tefryou unattended. — [Ktiock.] Hark ! more
knocking.
Get on your night-gown, lest occasion call us,
And show us to be watchers. — Be not lost 70
So poorly in your thoughts.
Macb. To know my deed, 't were best not know myself. -^^^^^^^
\Knock.
Wake Duncan with thy knocking : I would thou couldst !
{Exeunt.
64-68. To , . , knocking.'^ so Pope; Ff, print in seven lines ending respec-
tively white, entry : Chamber : deed. Constancie vnattendcd. knocking. 72, 73.
To . . . couldst!] so Pope ; four lines Ff, ending respectively <^(f;<;rf, s«//V. ^koc^
ing : could'sf. 72. To know] T' tuiknow Hanmer. 73. Wake . . , thy]
Wake Duncan with this Rowe ; Wake, Duncan, ivith this Theobald (Davenant's
version). / would] ivould Pope; Ay, 'would Steevens (1793).
the green sea into total red. Compare nature of a rhetorical pause alter " one,"
Hamlet, 11. ii. 479: " Now is he total with the idea of rendering "red" more
gules"; and Monday and Chettle's emphatic.
Downfall of Robert, Earl of Hunt- 6g. night-goivn] dressing-gown or
ingdon, 1601, iv. i. (vol. viii. p. 173. robe de chainbre. " In Macbeth's time,
ed. Hazlif.'s Dodsley, 1874) : " And and for centuries later," says Grant
made the greene sea red with Pagan White, " it was the custom for both
blood." See also Spenser, F.Q. 11. x. sexes to sleep without other covering
48 : — than that belonging to the bed." Or-
" The whiles with bloud they all the dinary clothing would show that they
shore did staine, had not been to bed.
And the gray Ocean into purple 72. To know . . . myself] Elwin,
dy." Shakespeare Restored, 1853, explains,
Owing no doubt to the extraordinary and rightly, I think, " with a knowledge
punctuation of the Folio (i.e. " making of my deed, I were better lost to the
the Cireene one, Red") many editors knoivledge both of my nature and of
seem to have misunderstood the mean- my existence " ; and the Clar. Edd., " If
ing. If the Folio printers meant any- I must look my deed in the face, it
thing by this comma, they probably were better for me to lose conscious-
meant to indicate something in the ness altogether."
p.
54
5^0i3^-''-^''^
MACBETH
[act II.
SCENE III.— The same.
Enter a Porter.
[Knocking within.
Porter. Here 's a knocking, indeed ! If a man were porter
of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key.
[Knocking.'] Knock, knock, knock. Who's there,
i' the name of Belzebub? — Here's a farmer, that
hanged himself on the expectation of plenty : come 5
in time ; have napkins enough about you ; here
you'll sweat for't. [Knocking.] Knock, knock.
13
Scene JII.] Capell in his Notes, p.
well remarks, "without ,this_scene
Macbeth's (ir^si cannot b§_shiftedn^r
hi"s7;a;T<fs washecf. To give a rationaf
space'for the discharge of these actions
was this scene thought of." This is a
piece of sound criticism, and tends to
support the authenticity of the passage,
the various questions concerning which
are dealt with in the Introduction. The
comic relief afforded by the porter's en-
-y trance serves its purpqselnj^akfiTg^lhe
C present horror from the scene " ; but it
. is 'sEbft,"as if Shakespear'ewere anxious
to resume the" tragic thread^^f ^15-^9^^'
coStser "Xs CoTeri3ge~Xwho, However,
believed this scene " to have been
written for the mob by some other
hand ") remarks, " Shakespeare never
introduces it [' the comic '] but when it
may react on the tragedy by harmoni-
ous contrast." See De Quincey's
famous essay Oti the Knocking at the
Gate in Macbeth, Works, ed. Masson,
vol. X. p. 389 ; and Hales, Notes and
Essays on Shakespeare, pp. 273-290.
2. old] Frequentlyliised as a colloquial
augmentative, meaning plentiful, great,
abundant ; or, as Steevens says, "fre-
qtient, more than enough." Cotgrave
has " Faire le Diable de vauuert. To
play reaks ; to keep an old coile, a hor-
rible stirre ; to make a hurly burly."
Dyce remarks that the Italians use, or
at least formerly used, vecchio in the
same sense; and he quotes Pulci,
Morg. Mag. xv. 54 : —
" PerchI corante abbandonava il
freno,
E dette un vecchio colpo in sul
ttrreno " ;
and he further remarks that Florio in
his Worlde of Wordes, 1598, has not
given this meaning of vecchio.
5. the expectation of plenty] which
would of course bring low prices.
Malone compares Hall's Satires, iv. 6
(ed. 1597) :—
" Ech Muck-worme wilbe richewith
lawlesse gaine,
Altho he smother vp mowes of
seuen \eares graine,
And hang'd himself when corne
grows cheap again."
Malone's reference to this passage as
pointing to 1606 being the date of
Macbeth (see Introduction) is contro-
verted by Liddell on the ground that
Jonson had already made use of the
story in his Every Man out of His
Hutnour (1599), in. ii., where Sordido,
a farmer, " falls off," i.e. hangs himself
because his " prognostication " of foul
weather, and consequent dearth, had
not " kept touch with him." But it
certainly does not follow that Shake-
speare did not make a similar use of
the story seven years after, in view of
the abundant harvest of 1606.
5, 6. come in time] If this reading be
correct, the meaning is probably " Come
in good time, so that you may enjoy
plenty of the everlasting bonfire, and
have a good old sweat for't." Staun-
ton complains that no editor has yet
explained the meaning ; but his read-
ing, " Come in, Time " — Time being
intended as a whimsical appellation lor
the farmer that had hanged himself — is
too whimsical for belief. If there is to
be any change in the text, it should
probably be in the direction of assimi-
lating this invitation to the invitations
•which follow, viz. Come in in time;
the " equivocator " and the "tailor"
being both invited to come in.
6. napkins] Nares, Glossary, men-
tions Baret's Alvearie, which gives
" Napkin or handkerchief, . . . sud-
arium . . . quo sudorem extergimus
SC. III.]
MACBETH
55
Who's there, i' the other devil's name? — 'Faith,
here 's an equivocator, that could swear in both the
scales against either scale; who committed treason lo
enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to
heaven : O ! come in, equivocator. {Knocking.']
Knock, knock, knock. Who 's there ? — 'Faith, here 's
an English tailor come hither for stealing out of a
French hose : come in, tailor ; here you may roast 1 5
your goose. {Knocking.] Knock, knock. Never
at quiet ! What are you ? — But this place is too
cold for hell. I '11 devil-porter it no further : I had
thought to have let in some of all professions, that
go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire. 20
{Knocking.] Anon, anon : I pray you, remember
the porter. {Opens the gate.
in aestu, et nare8 pergamus." Hence
the necessity for " napkins enow " in a
hot place.
9. tquivocaior] "meaning a Jesuit,"
says Warburton. See the Introduction
for an account of the proceedings at
Garnet's trial in 1606. Prof. Dowden,
New Shakespeare Society Transac-
iions, 1874, p. 275, thinks "we should
ask whether Shakespeare did not make
the porter use this word as well as
" hell-gate " with unconscious reference
to Macbeth, who even then had begun
to find that he could not 'equivocate
to heaven.' The equivocator who, the
porter says, is ' here," and whom he
tells to come in, is, in one sense, de-
pend upon it, the same Macbeth of
whom Macduff says, a few lines further
on, ' here he comes,' and who begins
to equivocate forthwith."
14, 15. stealing out of a French hose]
The joke against tailors was a very old
and common one. Reginald Scot, in his
Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584. says of
Samuel's apparition : " Belike he had a
new mantell, made him in heaven : and
yet they sale Tailors are skantie there,
for that their consciences are so large
here." See also the note on Midsummer
Night's Dream, 11. i. 54 (present series,
1905) : " And ' tailor ' cries." Steevens
and the Clar. Edd. refer to the following
passage in Stubbes, Anatomic of Abuses,
1595, fol. 236 : " The P'renche hose are
of two diuerse makinges, for the common
French hose (as they list to call them)
containeth length, breadth, and side-
nesse sufficient, and is made very
rounde. The other contayneth neyther
length, breadth, nor sidenesse (being not
past a quarter of a yarde side), whereof
some be paned, cut and drawen out with
costly ornamentes, with Canions an-
nexed, reaching downe beneath their
knees." Warburton thought the text
in Macbeth referred to the latter kind
of hose, for " a tailor must be a master
ot his trade who could steal anything
from thence." But in Merchant of
Venice, i. ii. 80, say the Clar. Edd.,
" Shakespeare clearly speaks of the
larger kind, the ' round hose ' which
the Englishman borrows from France,
and it is enough to suppose that the
tailor merely followed the practice of
his trade without exhibiting any special
dexterity in stealing. So in Henry V.
III. vii. 56 ; ' You rode, like a kern of
Ireland, your French hose off, and in
your straight strossers ' ; where the
French hose are wide by comparison."
See also the reference in Henry VIII.
I. iii. 31 ; to "short blister'd breeches,"
i.e. slashed with satin lining.
20. the primrose way] Compare All's
Well that Ends Well, iv. v. 56 : " the
flowery way that leads to the broad gate
and the great fire " ; and Hamlet, i. iii.
50 : " the primrose path of dalliance."
20. bonfire] According to the Oxford
Diet., from bone and fre, the spelling
bone-fire (sc. bane-fire) being common
down to 1760. In Scotland for the
annual midsummer " bane fire " in the
burgh of Hawick old bones were regu-
larly collected and stored up down to
about 1800. In Golding's translation
of Ovid's Metam. 1567, bk. vii. 1. 779,
ed. Rouse, 1904, we find "Or els with-
56 MACBETH [act a.
Enter Macduff and Lenox.
Macd. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed,
That you do lie so late ?
Port. 'Faith, Sir, we were carousing till the second cock ; 25
And drink. Sir, is a great provoker of three things.
Macd. What three things does drink especially pro-
voke ?
Port. Marry, Sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery,
Sir, it provokes, and unprovokgs : it provokes the de- 30
sire, but it takes away the performance. Therefore,
much drink may be said to be an equivocator with
lechery : it makes him, and it mars him ; it sets him
on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and dis-
heartens him ; makes him stand to, and not stand to : 35
in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving
him the lie, leaves him.
Macd. I believe, drink gave thee the He last night.
Port. That it did, Sir, i' the very throat o' me : but I re-
quited him for his lie ; and, I think, being too strong 40
for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I
made a shift to cast him.
Macd. Is thy master stirring ?
Enter MACBETH.
Our knocking has awak'd him ; here he comes.
Len. Good morrow, noble Sir !
Macb. Good morrow, both ! 45
out solemnitie were burnt in bone-fires 38. last night] " It is not very easy,"
hie." says Malone, " to ascertain precisely
25. the second cock] i.e. 3 a.m. Com- the time when Duncan is murdered. . . .
pare Romeo and jfuliet, iv. iv. 3 ; — Shakespeare, I believe, was led to fix the
" The second cock hath crow'd, time of Duncan's murder near the break
The curfew bell hath rung, 'tis three of day by Holinshed's account of the
o'clock." murder of King Duffe ; ' he was long in
See also A'/«o- L^ay, in. iv. 121: "This his oratorie and there continued till it
is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he was late in the night.' Donwald's ser-
begins at curfew and walks till the first vants ' enter the chamber where the
cock." King laie, a little before cock^s crow,
29-31. Lechery . . . the performance] where they secretlie cut his throat.' "
To the same effect, Urquhart's Rabelais, We may be very certain, however, that
bk. iii. c. xxxi. (1693) : — however roughly Shakespeare might
*' Carnal concupiscence is cooled and allocate his time, he never for dramatic
quelled five several ways. purposes attempted to fix it with abso-
First, by means of wine. . . ." lute precision. He knew well enough
37, 38, 40. lie] Note the quibble in the that his spectators did not regulate their
various meanings of putting to bed and imaginations by the chronometer,
a fall in wrestling.
sc. Ill] MACBETH 57
Macd. Is the king stirring, worthy thane ?
Macb. Not yet.
Macd. He did command me to call timely on him :
I have almost slipp'd the hour.
Macb. I '11 bring you to him.
Macd. I know, this is a joyful trouble to you ;
But yet 't is one. 50
Macb. The labour we delight in physics pain.
This is the door.
Macd. I '11 make so bold to call,
For 't is my limited service. \Exit.
Lett. Goes the king hence to-day ?
Macb. He does: — he did appoint so.
Len. The night has been unruly : where we lay, 55
Our chimneys_were bl6\v;irdown ; and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death,
And]prophesyfng with accents terrible ^~^
Of dire^ombiistion, and confus'd events,
New hatch'd to the woeful time, 60
52, 53. I 11 . . . service] prose Ff ; verse Hanmer. 54. hence] From hence
Steevens (1793). who arranges 53 Fur . . . king, and 54 From hence . . . so.
54. He does :] om. Pope. 55-57. The . . . death,] so Rovve ; four lines Ff,
ending respectively rH;'7(()' ; downe, ayre Death, 58. And prophesying] And 1
prophesyings Hanmer. 59-61. events, New . . . time. The] events. New
. . . time, </;e Johnson conj. 60-62. New . . . shake] so Rowe ; four lines
Ff, ending respectively time. Night, feuerous, shake.
51. Tlie labour . . .pain] For the en combustion auec. To make a stirye,
sentiment, compare Cymbeline, iii. ii. to raife an vprore, to keepe an old coyle
34 : — against." And see Henry VIII. v. iv.
" Some griefs are med'cinable; that 51.
is one of them, 59. confus'd] Perhaps here in the
For it doth physic love." sense of confusing, full of confusion: a
And Tempest, m. i. i : — very frequent grammatical usage with
" There be some sports are painful the Elizabethan writers.
and their labour 60. hatch'd . . . titne] Malone was
Delight in them sets off." inclined to believe that neiv-hatch'd
53. limited] appointed ; like the quali- should be referred to event:,, though the
fications of an estate in law. See events were yet to come : " Allowing,"
Measure for Measure, IV. \\. 176: " hav- he says, "for Shakespeare's usual in-
ing the hour limiied " ; and Timon of accuracy with respect to the active and
Athens, iv. iii. 431 : — passive participle, the events may be
" For there is boundless theft said to be ' the hatch and brood of
In limited professions," time' "; and he quotes a passage much
i.e. those to which admission is under resembling the present, vtjj.;^ //««>'_}' /F,
restrictions, such as the Church, the iii. i. 80-6 : —
law, and medicine. " There is a history . . .
59. combustion] tumult, confusion. Such things become the hatch and
especially of a political kind. Cotgrave brood of time."
has "Combustion: /. A combustion " Here certainly," remarks Malone, "it
. . . a/50 a tumult ; and hence Entrer is the thing or event, and not the pro.
58 MACBETH [act n.
The obscure bird clamour'd the livelong night :
Some say, the earth was feverous, and did shake.
Macb. 'T was a rough night.
Lett. My young remembrance cannot parallel
A fellow to it. 65
Re-enter MACDUFF.
Macd. O horror ! horror ! horror ! Tongue, nor heart,
Cannot conceive, nor name thee !
Macb., Len. What 's the matter ?
Macd. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece !
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord^s anomteB temple, and stole thence 70
The lile^o' the building T
Macb. What is *t you say ? the life ?
Len. Mean you his majesty?
Macd. Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon. — Do not bid me speak :
See, and then speak yourselves. —
[Exeunt Macbeth and Lenox.
Awake ! awake I — 75
Ring the alarum-bell. — Murder, and treason !
Banquo, and Donalbain ! Malcolm ! awake !
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit.
And look on death itself! — up, up, and see
The great doom's image ! — Malcolm ! Banquo ! 80
66, 67. Tongue . . . thee.] so Capell ; one line Ff. 66. Tongtie, nor] Or
tongue or Pope ; Nor tongue, nor Theobald. So. Banquo J] Ff; Donalbain!
Hanmer ; Banquo I rise: Travers (Johnson conj.) ; Banquo! all! Hudson
(Lettsom conj.).
phecy, which is the hatch of time; but of Ovid's Metant. bk. v. 1. 225 sqq.,
it must be acknowledged, the word ed. Rouse, 1904 : —
' become ' sufficiently marks the future " And therewithal! he drew
time. If, therefore, the construction Out Gorgon's head," etc.
which I have suggested be the true one, But he may have learnt it at school.
hatcli'd must be here used for hatching, 78. death's counterfeit] See Lucrcce,
or ' in the state of being hatch'd ' — ' To 402, where sleep is called " the map of
the woful time' means — to suit the death"; and Midsummer Night's
woeful time." Or the expression may Dream, in. ii. 364: " death-counter-
simply mean " born to the time," as a feiting sleep."
child is born to parents. 80. doom's image] Compare King
61. The obscure bird] the owl, the Lear, v. iii. 264: "■Kent. Is this the
bird of darkness. Compare 11. ii. 3 »m/^. promised end? Edgar, Or image of
62. feverous] referring to the fever of that horror ? "
ague, then very common in the fens 80. The insertion of " up " after
and undrained districts. " Banquo ! " at the end of this line,
74. Gorgon] In all probability Shake- havinpj regard to " rise up " in the
speare got his knowledge of the Gor- following line, seems very effective, and
gon's head from Golding's translation is an almost certain emendation.
sc. Ill] MACBETH 59
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites,
To countenance this horror ! Ring the bell.
\Bell rings.
Enter Lady Macbeth.
Lady M. What 's the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house? speak, speak !
Macd. O gentle lady, 85
'Tis.DOt forji^o^J^o hear what I can speaker
The repetition, in a woman's ear.
Would murder as it fell.
Enter Banquo.
O Banquo ! Banquo !
Our royal master 's murder'd !
Lady M. Woe, alas !
What ! in our house ?
Ban. Too cruel, anywhere. 90
Dear Duff, I pr'ythee, contradict thyself,
And say, it is not so.
Re-enter MACBETH and LENOX.
Macb. Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had liv'd a blessed time ; for, from this instant.
There 's nothing serious in mortality ; 95
All is but toys : renown, and grace, is dead ;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of
82. Ring the bell.] om. Theobald. 85. speak, speak I] Ff ; speak. Pope.
O] om. Pope. 88, 89. 0 . . . murder'd.] so Theobald ; one line Ff.
82. Ring the bell] There is no valid give time for his speech ; and it is a
reason for striking this out as Theobald good dramatic stroke on Shakespeare's
suggests, on the ground that it was a part to indicate Macduff's impatience
mere stage direction. The fact that by reiterating the order. On the other
Lady Macbeth begins her next speech hand, it must not be forgotten that
with a short line, and that if " Ring the stage-directions are nearly always
bell " were struck out as being a direc- couched in imperative terms, as Ma-
tion, the hemistich ending Macduff's lone remarks.
speech and that beginning Lady Mac- 98. vault] " A metaphorical com-
beth's would form a complete verse, is parison of this world vaulted by the
not a sufficient reason, if we bear in sky and robbed of its spirit and grace,
mind the number of incomplete lines in with a vault or cellar from which the
the play, which I think was probably wine has been taken and the dregs only
due to Shakespeare's rapid composition left " (Elwin). In Case's view, Mac-
of this tragedy. Macduff's order to beth is thinking of the earth as a burial
" ring the alarum bell " in line 76 would vault, and so proceeds to the idea of
not be executed immediately, so as to a wine vault.
60 MACBETH [act n.
Enter Malcolm and Donalbain.
Don. What is amiss?
Macb. You are, and do not know 't :
The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood lOO
Is stopp'd ; the very source of it is stopp'd.
Macd. Your royal father 's murder'd.
Mai. O ! by whom ?
Len. Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done 't :
Their hands and faces were all badg'd with blood ;
So were their daggers, which, unwip'd, we found 105
Upon their pillows :
They star'd, and were distracted ; no man's life
Was to be trusted with them.
Macb. O ! yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them.
Macd. Wherefore did you so ? 1 1 o
Macb. Who can be wise, amaz'd, temperate and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment ? No man :
The expedition of my violent love
Outrun the pauser reason. — Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood ; 115
And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature
For ruin's wasteful entrance : there, the murderers,
Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers
106, 108. IJ^'on . . . them] so Steevens (1793) ; two lines Ff, the first ending
distracted,
104. badg'd] Compare H Henry VI. laced thick all over, aslope, ore-crosse
III, ii. 200: " Murder s crimson badge." or billet-wise." Compare Romeo and
105-108. 80 were their . . . them] Jidiet, iii. v. 8 : —
These Hnes ought, in my opinion, to be " What envious streaks
printed as two lines (ending respec- ' Do lace the severing clouds in
lively " distracted," and "them") and yonder East."
not in three lines as Steevens, the A.nA Cymbeline, ii.W. 22: —
Variorum editors, Dyce, White, and " white and azure /at-^d
the Camb. Edd. have done. I should With blue of heaven's own tint."
restore to the proposed second line " It is not improbable," says Johnson,
what I think Shakespeare must have " that Shakespeare put these forced
written, t;«2. r/;a;, equivalent of course and unnatural metaphors into the
to " so that " (so being very frequently mouth of Macbeth, as a mark of artifice
omitted), as in 11. ii. 23 : " That they and dissimulation, to show the differ-
did wake," etc. ; or in iv, iii. 6 : " that ence between the studied language of
it resounds," etc, hypocrisy and the natural outcries of
114. pauser] Cotgrave has " Musard : sudden passion. The whole speech, so
a pawser, lingerer, defevrer, delayer." considered, is a remarkable instance of
115. lac'd] interlace J, in reticulate judgement, as it consists entirely of
fashion. Cotgrave has "Chamar6: antithesis and metaphor,"
sc. in.]
MACBETH
61
Unmannerly breech'd with gore. Who could refrain,
That had a heart to love, and in that heart 120
Courage, to make 's love known ?
Lady M. Help me hence, ho !
Macd. Look to the lady.
Mai. [Aszde to Don.'] Why do we hold our tongues,
That most may claim this argument for ours ?
Don. [Aside to MaLI W^hat should be spoken
Here, where our fate, hid in an auger-hole, 125
May rush, and seize us ? Tet 's away : our tears
Are not yet brew'd.
iig. Unmannerly breech'd^ Unmanly dremh'd Johnson. 121. [Seeming to
faint.] Rowe. 122, 124, 127. [Aside . . . ] Staunton; om. Ff. 124-126.
What . . . tears] so Malone ; three lines Ff, ending respectively here, hole,
away, Steevens ends with here, hole, tears, Dyce with fate, us ? away ;
ng. breech'd] covered as with
breeches, covered with gore up to the
hilts ; and this of course would be " un-
mannerly" as contrasted with "man-
nerly " breeches, i.e. the sheaths. That
Shakespeare did not invent any new or
fantastic use of the word, although,
perhaps, he makes Macbeth use an
artificial or affected expression, would
seem to be clear from a passage in
The Ciule Conversation of M. Stephen
Guazzo . . . the first three [books]
translated out of French by G. Pettie
[the fourth out of the Italian by Bar-
tholomew Young], London. Thomas
East, 1586 (quoted by Professor L. M.
Harris in Modern Language Notes,
January, 1906, vol. xxi. p. 12), "you
make me now doubt least I be in
worse case than I am aware of: for
you meane by your wordes to include
mee in the number of the melancholike,
which have their wit so breeched, that
they cannot discerne sweete from
sowre." This version was probably
made from the French version of
Tourangeau, Lyon, 1580, the passage
in which runs as follows : " Vous me
faites maintenant douter, queie ne sois
en pire estat que ie ne me sens : car
vous voulez dire & inferer que ie sois
du nombre des melancoliques, lesquels
ont tellement, Ie cerneau obfusque,
qu'ils ne s^auroient discerner Ie doux
d'auec Tamer": '^obfusque,'' says Pro-
fessor Harris, " answers to offuscato of
the Italian of Guazzo, which is defined
by Florio, Worlde of Wordes, 1598, s.v.
Offuscare : to darken, to obfcure, to
blind, to dazle, to echpfe, to fhadow, to
dim." From this Professor Harrif: thinks,
and I agree with him, that " it is pretty
clear that breech was more or less cur-
rent (perhaps current only as an affecta-
tion) in the sense of ' cover over ' (of
the mind, 'becloud'), the original
sense being, no doubt, ' cover as with
breeches.' The passage from Pettie's
translation, therefore, confirms the
usual interpretation to the extent that
Macbeth means 'covered with gore,'
but disposes of the assumption that
Shakespeare invents a fantastic meta-
phor for the occasion. It may be that
he makes Macbeth use an affected ex-
pression."
122. Look . . . lady] On the vexed
question whether Lady Macbeth did
really faint, see the Introduction.
123. argument] subject or theme: in
this sense very frequent in the plays,
e.g. Timon of Athens, in. iii. 20: "So
it may prove an argument of laughter."
125. where] The true reading is un-
doubtedly " whereout " ; and this seems
to refer rather to " rush" in the next
line than to the antecedent word
"here"; and hence to be a decided
improvement on the Folio reading
where.
125. hid in an augur-hole] lurking
in any minute spot. Compare Corio-
lanus, IV. vi. 87 : —
"Your franchises, whereon you
stood, confined
Into an augur's bore."
r
\
i
62 MACBETH [act n.
Mai. [Aside to Don.\ Nor our strong sorrow
Upon the foot of motion.
Ban. Look to the lady : —
{Lady Macbetli is carried out.
And when we have our naked frailties hid,
That suffer in exposure, let us meet, 1 30
And question this most bloody piece of work,
To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us :
In the great hand of God I stand ; and thence
Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight
Of treasonous malice.
Macd. And so do I.
All. So all. 135
Pi^v- Macd. Let's briefly put on manly readiness.
And meet i' the hall together.
AIL Well contented,
{Exeunt all but Malcolm and Donalbain.
Mai. What will you do ? Let 's not consort with them :
To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
Which the false man does easy. I '11 to England. 140
/^ Don. To Ireland, I : our separated fortune
/ Shall keep us both the safer ; where we are,
There 's daggers in men's smiles : the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.
128. upon] OH Pope, who reads Are . . . oh as one line. Look] Look there
Hanmer. 138. What . . . them :] one line Rowe, two lines Ff. 140.
Which . . . Ewo^/anrfJ one line Rowe, two lines Ff. 141-144. To . . . bloody]
so Rowe; four lines Ff, ending respectively / .• safer : smiles; bloody.
127. strong sorrow] "Sorrow in its her ready handsomely"; and their
first strength is motionless, and cannot Island Princess, iii. iii. : "I am e'en
express itself in words or tears." (Clar. unready." The Clar. Edd. think the
Edd.) Compare iv. iii. 210 />oxf. phrase means "Complete armour, and
129. naked frailties] unclothed (and involves also the corresponding habit
therefore weak) bodies. of mind " ; and Herford renders it
12'^. pretence] intention, design. " the equipment and mood of battle " ;
Compare 11, iv. 24 post ; and King but I doubt much if Shakespeare in-
Lear, i. iv. 75: "a very pretence and tended this. Case prefers the "face
purpose of unkindness." meaning," and considers that Macduff,
136. manly readiness] i.e. men's coming from without, could not be un-
clothes. "Ready" frequently means dressed, or at any rate "unready," so
dressed, and " unready " undressed, that the other, or concrete, sense would
See, for example, the stage-direction in have to refer to " armour." But Mac-
J Henry VI. Ii. i. 38: "The French duff's " limited service " was to call on
leap over the walls in their shirts, the King, and therefore he must have
Enter . , . half ready and half un- been lodged in another part of the
ready." Compare Cymbeline, 11. iii. castle, and so "unready" or un-
87 : " is she ready ? " Keightley com- dressed.
pares Beaumont and Fletcher's Queen 143. the near] i.e. the nearer. Com-
of Corinth, 11. iv. : " Bid my wife make pare Richard II. v, i. 88 : " Better far
sc. IV.] MACBETH 63
Mai. This murderous shaft that 's shot
Hath not yet HghtedTana'our safestTvay ^ 145
Islio avoid the aimjl therefore^ to horse ;
And let us nol be dainty of leave-taFing,
But shift away. There 's warrant in that theft
Which steals itself, when there 's no mercy left.
\Exeunt.
SCENE IV.— Without the castle.
Enter ROSSE and an Old Matt.
Old M. Threescore and ten I can remember well ;
Within the volume of which time I have seen
Hours dreadful, and things strange, but this sore night
Hath trifled former knowings.
Rosse. Ah! good father,
Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, 5
Threaten his bloody stage : by the clock 't is day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.
Is 't night's predominance, or the day's shame,
4. Ah,\ Rowe; Ha Ff. 6. Threaten] Rowe ; Threatens Ff. his] this
Theobald. 7. travelling lamp.] Ff3, 4; travailing Lampe : Ff i. 2.
off than near, be ne'er the near.'" By elsewhere by Shakespeare in this causa-
" th.e jiear jn blood "_DxJnalhaiD_ jnay live sense. See, for an active use, Mer-
mean Macbeth, as being nearest in chant of Venice, iv. i. 298: "we trifle
blood to tHemTelves or asl5eing guilty time." " Knowings " i.e. experiences,
oTthelfiurder ; or he maj^ meari himseff is also a oiro| XeyStievov.
and MalcbTm as bemg^ near iji blood to 5-20. Thou seest, . . . looked upon 't]
the murdeted kiiig^ and therefprejnore Shakespeare probably took his hint of
liable to be murdered in their turn. these portents from Holinshed's ac-
"148. There^s warrant . . 7 left] count of the murder of King Duff.
The Clar. Edd. compare All's Well 7. travelling lamp] This epithet of
that Ends Well, 11. i. 33 : " Bertram, the sun is common in the old poets ; e.g.
I'll steal away. First Lord. There's Drayton in his E/«^i>s, 1627, p. 185, has
honour in the theft." "nor regard him travelling the signes."
In Shakespeare's time the word was
bCBJVS IV. spglf indifferently "travel" and "tra-
ScBNB IV.] This scene is not really a vail," although modern usage differ-
part of the dramatic action, as Liddell entiates the meanings. Herrick, in his
aptly remarks, but rather serves the famous lyric To the virgins, to make
jl purpose of a chorus, bridging over the much of their time, writes of " The
gap between Act II., which leaves Mac- glorious lamp of Heaven, the Sun."
beth having successfully accomplished 8. predominance] astrological influ-
the murder, and Act iii., which presents ence. See Troilus and Cressida, 11. iii.
him in the full enjoyment of the fruits 138: "his humorous predominance "
' of his crime. (where the simile is from the influence
3. sore] dreadful, grievous; Sc. sair, of the moon); King Lear, i. ii. 134:
in much the same sense. " Knaves, thieves and teachers by
4. trifled former knowings] i.e. 8pherical/>r^(fowt«anc*"; and Fletcher,
made former experience seem trifling. Sea Voyage, in. t. : "The sullen Saturn
"Trifled" does not seem to be used had ^«rfoOTtwonce at your nativity! "
I
I
64 MACBETH [act u.
That darkness does the face of earth entomb,
When living light should kiss it ?
Old M. 'T is unnatural, i o
Even like the deed that 's done. On Tuesday last,
A falcon, towering in her pride of place.
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at, and kill'd.
Rosse. And Duncan's horses (a thing most strange and certain)
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, 1 5
Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make
War with mankind.
Old M. 'T is said, they eat each other.
Rosse. They did so ; to th' amazement of mine eyes,
That look'd upon 't. Here comes the good Macduff. 20
Enter Macduff.
How goes the world, Sir, now ?
Macd. Why, see you not ?
Rosse. Is't known, who did this more than bloody deed?
Macd. Those that Macbeth hath slain.
Rosse. Alas, the day !
What good could they pretend ?
Macd. They were suborn'd,
14. And , . . f^i-teJn,] one line Pope; two lines Ff. 15. their] the Theo-
bald. 17, 18. would make War] so Steevens (1793), line 17 ending with zvoidd
Ff. 18. eat]ate'&'mgtr. 19,20. They . . . A/acrf«^~] so Pope ; three lines
Ff, ending respectively so; vpoit't. Macdnffe. 24. were] are Theobald (ed. i).
12. towering . . . //acf] terms of fal- horse" ; Tjvo Gentlemen of Verona, in. i,
conry. Turberville in his Book of Fal- 265 : " a team of horse " ; Taming of the
conrie, ed, 1611, p. 33, writing of the Shrew, Induct. 61: "his hounds and
" hobby," says : " Shee is of the number horse " ; and Sonnet gi : —
of those Hawkes that are hie flying and " Some in their hawks and hounds,
<0M'«' Hav.'ks! " Compare King fohn, Some in their Aorse."
V. ii. 149: "And like an eagle in his aerj- Ample confirmation of this view is
towers." " Towering " means mounting aftbrded by the Folio readings scedes for
higher and higher in wide circles, and seede, ni. i. 6g \so7ines {or sonne [son), in.
"place "i s the highest " pitch " or flight vi. 24 ; and cojisequences for consequence,
attained by the hawk before stooping, v. iii. 5. Compare also the note on
See the admirable description of a day's " sense," v. i. 24.
hawking in Mr. Justice Madden's D/arv 15. their race] Theobald's the was
of Master William Silence (new ed. 1907, probably intended by him to have refer-
p. ig^sqq.). ence 10 their swiftness in the race-course.
14. horses] " horse," the old collective 17. as] as if. See 11. li. 27 ant^.
plural, seems an almost certain emenda- 18. TJs said . . .] This follows
tion for the Folio " horses." Skeat Holinshed's account of the murder of
points out {Notes and Queries, loth ser. King Duff.
i. 342^ that the A.S. hors was un- 24. /'?'<'/f«</] intend, design. See note
changed in the plural, like our modern on "pretence," 11. iii. 134 ante.
sheep and deer, and that Shakespeare 24. suborn'd] In Elizabethan English
used the old form in many passages, subornation meant the instigation of any
Compare iv. i. 140: " the galloping of form of crime.
SC. IV.]
MACBETH
65
\
Malcolm, and Donalbain, the king's two sons,
25
\ Are stol'n away and fled ; which puts upon them
' Suspicion of the deed.
,Rosse. 'Gainst nature still :
Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up
Thine own life's means ! — Then 't is most like
Tlje^pvereigTit^ \vill fall upon~Macbe~th':-^ ^ 30
Macd. He is already naitrd,~ahcrgone "to Scone
To be invested.
Rosse. Where is Duncan's body?
Macd. Carried to Colme-kill,
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.
Rosse. Will you to Scone? 35
Macd. No, cousin ; I '11 to Fife.
Rosse. Well, I will thither.
Macd. Well, may you see things well done there : — adieu ! — •
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new !
Rosse. Farewell, father.
Old M. God's benison go with you ; and with those 40
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes !
[Extunt.
28. wiW] Warburton ; will Ff. ravin up] Theobald; ruiien vp F i. 29
Thine] Its Hanmer. life's] Pope; lities Ff. Then 'tis] Ff; Why then it is
Hanmer. 33. Colme-kill] Colmeshill Rowe ; Colmeskill Johnson. 37.
Well, may] Theobald ; Well may Ff.
28. ravin up] Compare " ravin'd " (of
the shark), iv. i. 24 ; and Measure for
Measure, i. ii. 133 : " Like rats that
ravin down their proper bane"; also
Jonson's Every Man in His Humour,
III. iv. : " I am sure on't ; for they [fast
daj's] ravin up more butter than all the
days of the week besides."
31. Scone] The ancient royal city,
probably the capital of the old Pictish
kingdom, about two miles north of the
modern town of Perth. Tradition makes
the celebrated stone of Destiny, on
which the Scottish kings were, crowned,
to have found its way from the plain of
Luz, where it was the pillow of Jacob
(see Genesis xxviii. 19), to Dunstaffnage
in Argyllshire, and to have been removed
thence to Scone by Kenneth II., whence
it was transferred to Westminster Abbey
by King Edward I. in 1296. It remains
enclosed in the chair used by British
sovereigns at the coronations in the
Abbey. See the New Statistical Ac-
count of Scotland, 1845, vol. x, p. 1047.
5
33. Colme-kill] According to Holin-
shed, Duncan's body was first carried
to Elgin, afterwards to Colmekill, or
lona, one of the smaller Western Isles,
and which is still called Icolmkill, i.e.
the cell of St. Columba ; but the men-
tion of this initial detail would have
been useless for Shakespeare's purpose.
36. I will thither] The verb of motion
is not infrequently omitted. Compare
Richard II. i. ii. 73 : " desolate will I
hence and die " ; and Tempest, i. ii. 326 :
" urchins Shall forth at vast of night."
[Forth at in lieu of the Folio/o>' that is
the only possible reading.]
40-41. benison . . . foes] " The old
man," remarks E. K. Chambers,
"rightly judges Ross as a mere time-
server." But Shakespeare, I think,
rather intended the " benison " in the
mouth of the "good father" (line 4) to
include both Ross and all who were
wishful to make the best of the new
rule, from whatever bad or evil source
it arose.
ACT III
SCENE I. — Fores. A room in the palace.
Enter Ban QUO.
\
Ban. Thou hast it now, king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, ^ -^
As the^ weird women promis'd; and, I fear, ^^ v-^^/.^ck-^
Thou piay^f *mostlc)un"y ^r 't ; yetjt_was j^id.
It Jhpuld n^t stand in thy posterity ;
]^iOBat^r^^f!^houId bellie root and father 5
Of many kings. If there'come truth from them
(As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine),
Why, by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well,
And set me up in hope? But, hush ; no more. lo
Sennet sounded. Enter yikC^Y^TW as King ; Lady MACBETH,
as Queen ; Lenox, Rosse, Lords, and Attendants.
Macb. Here's our chief guest.
Lady M. If he had been forgotten,
It had been as a gap in our great feast,
And all-thing unbecoming.
Macb. To-night we hold a solemn supper, Sir,
2, 7e'eird] lecyard F i ; iveyuard Ff 2,3,4; ^'^ird Theobald. 13. all-thing]
F I ; all-things F 2 ; all things Ff 3, 4.
Act in. Scene /.] Historically con- plays, and seeming to indicate a particu-
sidered, there is a long interval between lar set of notes on the trumpet or cornet,
Acts n. and in., but Shakespeare's con- different from a flourish."
Etructive skill leaves the spectator with 13. a//-</ii«^] with an adverbial mean-
only a vague feeling of some, though ing wholly, in everyway : "thing" being
not a great, lapse of time between these taken as an accusative qualified by
acts. " all."
4. stand] Compare Midsummer 14. solemn] formal or ceremonious.
Night's Dream, v. i. 417: — Compare Midsummer Night's Dream,
" And the blots of Nature's hand iv. i. igi : " We'll hold a feast in great
Shall not in their issue stand." solemnity" ; and see the note on "our
10. Sennet sounded] "Sennet, Senet, solemnities," i. i. 11 of that play in the
Synnet, Cynet, Signet, and Signafe. A present series.
word," says Nares, Glossary, "chiefly 14. supper] "With us the nobilitie,
occurring in the stage-directions of old gentrie, and students, doo ordinarilie go
66
sc. I.] MACBETH 67
And I 'II request your presence.
Ban. Let your highness 15
Command upon me, to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit.
Macb. Ride you this afternoon ?
Ban. Ay, my good lord.
Macb. We should have else desir'd your good advice 20
(Which still hath been both grave and prosperous)
In this day's council ; but we'll take to-morrow.
Is 't far you ride ?
Ban. As far, my lord, as will fill up the time
'Twixt this and supper : go not my horse the better, 25
I must become a borrower of the night.
For a dark hour, or twain.
Macb. Fail not our feast.
Ban. My lord, I will not.c>^,>$i-^ • P<tv-c^<^ "
Macb. We hear, our_blopdy^ ODUsms, are bestow'd
(^(^i/wvja-) In England, and in Ireland ; not confessing 30
~^-* W«yi?wi»>Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
' ^ With strange invention. But of that to-morrow,
When, therewithal, we shall have cause of state,
15. Let your highness] Lay your Highnesses Rowe (Davenant's version) ; Lay
your highness' Pope; Set your highness' Mason conj. 22. take] talk Malone;
iake't Warburton (MS.) and Keightley (Camb. Edd.).
to dinner at eleven before noone, and to cal inversion is common enough in the
supper at five, or betweene five and sixe classics.
at afternoone" (William Harrison, 25. the better] In this phrase there
Description of England, 1514 (preface are really two distinct conceptions, viz.
to Holinshed), bk. ii. p. 1716). a statement or hypothesis about a posi-
15, 16. Let . . . Command . . . the tive quality' (here the horse's a speed —
which] It may almost seem essential to "go not my horse well "), andacompari-
the sense to adopt Lay, the correction son between relative qualities (i.e. go
of Rowe and many subsequent editors, not my horse better or quicker than the
as there seems to be no warrant for such coming on of night). According to some
a phrase as " Command upon me " : but authorities, e.g. Latham, Etig. Lang.,
I am not satisfied that Shakespeare did the the is not the ordinary definite
not write L«^, boldly referring to Com- article, but is a perversion of "je,"
mand as a substantival antecedent to which is the same word as aye,
ivhich. The Clar. Edd. think this ante- always. Compare the German " Je
cedent is "the idea contained in the mehr Einer hat, /e mehr will er haben " ;
preceding clause " ; and Case that it is i.e. Ever more one has, ever more he
" your highness." would be having. And see Craik's
21. prosperous] i.e. in the issue. English of Shakespeare {Julius CcBsar),
25. go not my horse] i.e. if my horse par. 675, note. According to others,
go not. Compare Richard I L 11. i. 300: e.g. Morris, Hist. Eng. Gram., etc., the
" Hold out my horse, and I will first be is the instrumental or ablatival form
there." The hypothesis is expressed by (thi) of the old definite article,
the simple subjunctive, and the rhetori- 33. cause] subject, matter of debate ;
68 MACBETH [act m.
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse : adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you ? 35
Ban. Ay, my good lord : our time does call upon 's.
Macb. I wish your horses swift, and sure of foot ;
And so I do commend you to their backs.
Farewell. — \Exit Banquo.
Let ever)' man be master of his time 40
Till seven at night, to make society
The sweeter welcome : we will keep ourself
Till supper-time alqi^ : while then, God be with you.
,.^ n cJiJ^^'"^^'^^^' ^ [Exeunt Lady Macbeth, Lords, etc.
Sirrah, a word with you. Attend those men
Our pleasure? 45
Atten. They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
Macb. Bring them before us. {Exit Attendant.] — To be thus \
is nothing, V
But to be safely thus. — OuHears iji Banquo
Stick_deep, and in his^ royalty- of nature
Reigns diat which would be fear'd :^fis much he dares;
An37to that daundessTemper oThis mind, 51
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There, isjtione j>ut he
Whose being I_do fear : and under him
My geiiius is rebuk'd ; as, it is said, 55
Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid the sisters,
41, 42. night, to . . . welcome:] night; to . . . welcome, Theohaid.
frequently in this sense in the plays, simple explanation of the two lines in
Compare iv. iii. 197, where the " gen- Folio is that the printers were unable
eral cause" means the public interest. to get the words "our pleasure" into
41,42. to make . . . siveeter welcome] the line, and failed to indicate this in
On the ground that solitude must be the proper way.
assumed to give a zest to society-, I 47. 48. To be thus . . . thus] i.e. to '
think we must accept Theobald's be a king in name is nothing, but to
punctuation. But the Folio punctua- reign in safety is the thing. Shake-
tion is not without merit. speare seems to repeat this idea in scene
43. while] until. Compare Richard 11. line 32 of this Act, ^.f.
//. IV, i. 269 : " Read o'er the paper 55, 56. My genius . . . Casar] Corn-
while the glass doth come." This pa.ie Antony and Cleopatra, n. \n. ig : —
usage seems to be still common in " Thy demon, that 's thy spirit, which
Yorkshire and the North of England, keeps thee, is
43. God . . . you] i.e. God b' u'i' Noble, courageous, high, unmatch-
you, our " Good-bye." able,
44. Sirrah] Capell is certainly Where Caesar's is not; but near
correct in taking "Sirrah . . . him thy angel
pleasure" as one line. Sirrah, a Becomes a fear as being o'er-
lengthened form of Sir, being a mono- powered."
syllable. The Folio wrongly prints as Shakespeare borrowed this from North's
two lines, and is followed by the Camb. Plutarch {Antonius, ed. 1595, p. 983;
Edd. and others, including Dyce, The ed. 1631, p. 926) : " For thy demon,
sc. I ] MACBETH 69
When first they put the name of king upon me,
And bade them speak to him ; then, prophet-like,
Thej^ hail'd him father to a line of kings.
Upon my head^hejTplac'da^ fruitless crown, 60
'p» Andgut a barren sceptre in my gripe,"
Thence to be wrehch'd with an uhlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If 't be so,
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind ;
-'** For tHem^fhe "gracious Duncan have I murder'd ; 65
"Put ran couTs^ irTthie vessel brmypeace,
Only for them ; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings !
Rather than so, come, fate, into the list, 70
And champion me to the utterance ! — Who 's there ? —
Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers.
Now, go to the door, and stay there till we call.
\^Exit Attendant.
Was it not yesterday we spoke together ?
I Mur. It was, so please your highness.
Macb. Well then, now
Have you consider'd of my speeches ? Know, 75
69. seed'] Pope; Seedes Ff i, 2. 71. One line Pope; two lines Ff, ending
vtterance. and there ?
said he (that is to say, the good angell In the vile prison of afflicted
and spirit that keepeth thee), is afraid breath."
of his : and being couragious and high And notably Othello, in. iii. 361 : " by
when he is alone, becometh fearfull and the worth of man's eternal soul." Per-
timorous when he cometh neare vnto haps a reminiscence in ShaKcspeare's
the other." mind of the story of Dr. Faustus.
62. with] i.e. by. Compare Winte/s 71. champion me] This must mean
Tale, V. ii. 68 : " He was torn to pieces that Fate is called in to be Macbeth's
wjf^ a bear"; and many other passages, champion to defend his royal title
ti^. fil'd] defiled; not elsewhere in against Banquo and his "seed," and
Shakespeare. But Spenser uses it. not be champion against him, as is
See Faerie Queene, in. i. 62 : " She thought by many editors. This seems
lightly lept out of her filed bed." to be the only passage in Shakespeare
Craig quotes Wilson's Art of Rhetoric, where the word is used as a verb.
1551, Prologue: "Who that toucheth 71. to the utterance] Holinshed, vol.
pitch but shall be filed with it " ; and 3, p. 560a, Henrie the Fift, has : " the
Steevens, Wilkins's Miseries of Inforc'd lord Mountainie, capteine of the castell,
Marriage, 1607 (Hazlitt's Dodsley, iii. would not yeeld, but made semblance,
p. 511): "like smoke through a as though he meant to defend the
chimney that//^5 all the way it goes." place, to the vtterance." Cotgrave has
57. eternal jewel] immortal soul; as " Combatre i oultrance. To fight at
in King John, in. iv. 18 : — piarpe [i.e. with pointed spears], to
" a grave unto a soul : fight it out, or to the vttermost ; not to
Holding the eternal spirit, against spare one another in fighting " : in
her will, modern phrase, " to fight to a finish."
LA
I
:.it
70 MACBETH [act m.
That it was he, in the times past, which held you
So under fortune, which, you thought, had been
Our innocent self. This I made good to you
In our last conference ; pass'd in probation with you,
How you were borne in hand ; how cross'd ; the in-
struments ; 80
Who wrought with them ; and all things else, that
might,
To half a soul, and to a notion craz'd,
Say, " Thus did Banquo ". j^''''^
I M?^K You made it known to us. ^^^
Macb. I did so ; and went further, which is now f^'^
Our point of second meeting. Do you find 85
Your patience so predominant in your nature, !
That you can let this go? Are you so gospell'd,
, To pray for this good man, and for his issue,
^ ,* IWhose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave, /
lAnd beggar'd yours for ever ? K.
I Afuj'-. -We are men, my liege. 90
Macb. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men ;
As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are clept ^/^^
All by the name of dogs : the valu'd file • >4<.j-w-«lur» ,Mit4«v[v*M n
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, - 015 ' -•,'
93. clept] Capell ; dipt Ff ; cleped Theobald ; clep'd Hanmer. '^} , .^ , i\tt
80. borne in hand] i.e. "dealt with" thence yerke over ... a trundle-taile
in the sense of being falsely dealt with, tike or shaugh or two."
buoyed up by promises, deceived. Com- 93. rffmt-?e)o/t;«] " dogs bred between
pare Hamlet, 11. ii. 67 :— wolves and dogs, like the Latin lycisci "
" That so his sickness, age and im- (Johnson).
potence 93. clept] called: a word becoming
Was falsely borne in hand." obsolete in Shakespeare's time. He
And Cymbdine, v. v. 43 : " Your daugh- uses it in Loves Labour 's Lost, v. i. 23 :
ter, whom she bore in hand to love." "he c/^Z-^^A a calf, cauf " ; and Hatnlet,
Craig compares North's Plutarch, i. iv. 19 : " They clepe us drunkards."
Timoleon (ed. 1595, p. 284; ed. 1631, Halliwell, Diet, of Archaic Words, etc.,
p. 267) : " he was a raih hare-braind says, " This verb is still used by boys
man, and had a greedie defire to reigne, at play in the Eastern counties, who
being put into his heade by a companie clape the sides at a game."
of meane men that bare him in hand 94. the valu'd file] " The file or list
they were his friends." where the value and peculiar qualities
87. gospell'd] filled or imbued with of everything are set down, in contra-
the spirit of the gospel. distinction to what he immediately
Qi. Shoughs] "what we now call mentions, ' the bill that writes them all
shocks" (Johnson). Steevens quotes alike'" (99, 100) (Steevens). See also
Nash's Lenten Stuff e, etc., 1599 [ed. loi and v. ii. 8 /'os<; and Measxire for
Grosart, v. 243; ed. McKerrow, iii. Measure, ni.n. i^^: "The greater //^
182]: "they are for Vltima Theule, [i.e. the higher ranks] of the subject
the north-seas, or Island [Iceland], and held the Duke to be wise."
sc. I] MACBETH 71
.V
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous nature
Hath in him clos'd ; whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill
That writes them all alike ; and so of men, , }99.i "'
■ fi-vNow. if you have a station in the file, •■ ' ' " •
"' ^Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say it ; • '
And I wiTTput that business in your bosoms,
X^ \V Whose execution takes your enemy off, ^_jid^y*--^'*'-
i Grapples you to the heart and love of us, 105
. .,>^f"/;ji^^-,Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
y f '^^ Which in his death were perfect. •—
h-t^ 2 Mur. I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incens'd, that I am reckless what
I do, to spite the world.
ru^ I Mur. And I another, no
v{ \ So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune,
<Wi/^ . That I would set my life on any chance.
To mend it, or be rid on 't.
Macd. Both of you
KnoWj_Banguo was your enemy.
2 Mur. ^^"^^ True, my lord.
Macb. So is he jriine ; and in such bloody distance) c^>uX.qi 5
That every minute of his being thrusts •
Against my near'st of life : and though I could ^•
102. Noti' the] Ff; And not in the Rowe. wont] wcrser Hudson (Jervis
\ conj.). my it;] Rowe; say't, Ff. iii. weary] weary'd Capell. 113,
114, Both . . . en^/nj] Rowe; one line Ff.
96. housekeeper] The Clar. Edd. re- with.'" Compare Winters Tale, iv. iv-
fer to Topsell's History of Beasts [ed. 508: —
' \ J- 1608, p. 160], where the " housekeeper " " Let myself and fortune
. *■ is enumerated among the different Two- for the time to come."
kinds of dogs; and to the Greek oi/coup(Js, So that the metaphor here may be
jj Aristophanes, Wasps, 970. from a rough-and-tumble at wrestling.
,> gg. orfrfj^fow] Compare I. iii. 106. 115. distance] enmity, variance.
102. Not . . . savi^] This line in the Apparently used by Shakespeare in
Folio is very faulty. I think we are this sense only in this passage. See
obliged to adopt the readings of Rowe Bacon, Essays, xv. Of Seditions and
and Jervis. Worser is of very frequent Troubles (p. 55, line 20, ed. Singer) :
occurrence in the plays; and it is quite "Generally, the Dividing and Break-
possible that Shakespeare in the first ing of all Factions, and Combinations
instance used a contracted form worsr, that are adverse to the State, and set-
which was corrupted into worst. ting them at distance, or at least dis-
105. Grapples] Compare Hamlet, i. trust amongst themselves, is not one
iii. 63: ''Grapple them to thy soul of the worst Remedies."
with hoops of steel." 117. near'st of life] most vitAl parts.
HI. tugg'd] Cotgrave, Diet., has For the construction, compare v. ii. 11
"Sabouler: tug, mumble, or scuffle post: "their first of manhood," and
72
MACBETH
[act 111.
With bare-fac'd power sweep him from my sight,
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not.
For certain friends that are both his and mine, I20
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
Who I myself struck down : and thence it is
That I to your assistance do make love,
Masking the business from the common eye, ' .•
_ For sundry weighty reasons.
2 Mur. We shall, my lord, 125
Perform what you command us.
I Mur. Though our lives —
Macb. Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour, at
most,
I will advise you where to plant yourselves,
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time,
127. So Pope ; two lines Ff.
spot, the time Tyrwhitt conj.
129. the perfect spy o' the time'\ the perfect
"Thy
Measure for Measure, ui, i. 17;
best of rest is sleep."
119. avouch} warrant, justify: in the
legal sense. Low. Lat. advocare, Fr.
avouer, originally to claim a waif or
a stray, to take under protection ; hence
to maintain the justice of a cause or
the truth of a statement. Compare v.
V. 47 post, and see the Oxford Diet. s.v.
120. For'l Here usually taken as
meaning " on account of," " because
of" : a not uncommon usage in Eliza-
bethan English. See Abbott, Gram.
s. 150; and Venus and Adonis, 114: —
" O, be not proud, nor brag not of
thy might,
For mastering her that foil'd the
god of fight."
121. but\ Abbott, Gram. s. 385, con-
siders that the finite verb is to be sup-
plied here without the negative; i.e.
" but (I must) wail his fall," etc. ; and
compare line 48 ante. I cannot help
thinking, however, that For in line 120
is used in its ordinary causal sense, and
that but is a corruption of" would " ; i.e.
" If I struck Banquo down, certain per-
sons would wail his fall."
122. Who] A colloquial use of the
objective case : as often in Shakespeare.
129. the perfect spy 0' the time]
There are various explanations of this
difficult phrase, assuming the text to
be correct, and I think it is. Johnson,
making the slight alteration of "a " for
" the " thinks " a perfect spy," refers to
the third murderer who afterwards joins
the other two. See scene iii. i post.
Heath, Revisal, 1765, p. 393, says: "The
word ' spy ' is here used for espyal or
discovery, and the phrase means the
exact intimation of the precise time, or,
as Shakespeare immediately interprets
his own words, 'the moment on't.'"
Mason, Comments, etc., 1785, says,
" ' With ' has here the force of ' by ' ;
and the meaning of the passage is : ' I
will let you know by the person best
informed, of the exact moment in which
the business is to be done.'" Steevens
places a full stop after "yourselves"
(128), and takes "acquaint" in the
next line as an imperative, on the
ground that no further instructions
could be given by Macbeth, the hour of
Banquo's return being quite uncertain.
The Clar. Edd. think that " if the text
be right, it may bear one of the mean-
ings : first, I will acquaint you with the
most accurate observation of the time,
i.e. with the result of the most accurate
observation ; or, secondly, ' the spy o'
the time' may mean the man who in
the beginning of scene iii. joins them by
Macbeth's orders and ' delivers their
offices.' " Herford thinks it probably
means the result of " perfect spying,"
the fit moment as determined by the
closest scrutiny. On the whole, Heath's
explanation appears to be the most
satisfactory one. Keightley, Shake-
speare Expositor, p. 423, points out
SC. II.]
MACBETH
73
The moment on't; for't must be done to-night, 130
And something from the palace ; always thought,
That I require a clearness : and with him
(To leave no rubs, nor botches, in the work),
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me 135
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart ;
I '11 come to you anon.
2 Mur. We are resolv'd, my lord.
Macb. I '11 call upon you straight : abide within. —
{Exeunt Murderers.
It is concluded : Banquo, thy soul's flight, 140
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night. [Exit.
SCENE II. — The same. A nother room.
Enter 'Lkdy Macbeth and a Servant.
Lady M. Is Banquo gone from court ?
Serv. Ay, Madam, but returns again to-night.
\
that Ariosto uses spia in exactly the
6ame sense [Or. Ftcr. xxxix. 79) : —
" Non ha avuto Agramante ancora
spia,
Ch' Astolfo mandi una armata si
grossa."
And he also refers to vii. 34, viii. 68,
ix. 14, and xxxvii. 90. Spy does not
occur in Harrington's translation of
the Orlando ; but Gascoigne in / Sup-
positi, V. 6, renders Ebbero spia by " had
espial." Further, in Gower's Con/essio
Amantis, v, 6936, Works, vol. iii. ed.
Macaulay, 1901, we find: —
" Mi sone, be thou war withal
To seche suche mecheries [i.e.
thievishness],
Bot if thou have the betre aspics,
In aunter [i.e. adventure] if the so
betyde" etc.
131. something'] Used adverbially,
like " somewhat," as in 2 Henry IV. i.
ii. 212 : " a white head and something a.
round belly."
131. thought] i.e. it being thought,
understood : an absolute use of the past
part. Liddell quotes a very similar
idiom from Florio's Montaigne, i. xxv. :
" Alwayes conditioned the master be-
thinke himselfe where to his charge
tendeth."
132. clearness] " So that he would
not have his house slandered, but that
in time to come he might cleare him-
self," etc. (Holinshed, Hist. Scut. ii.
1726, Boswell-Stone, p. 33).
133. rttbs] The metaphor is from the
bowling-green. Cotgrave has, " Saut :
m. A leape, sault, bound, skip, iumpe ;
also {at Bowles) a rub." When a'
bowl was diverted by any impediment
it was said to " rub." Compare
Richard II. iii. iv. 4 : " The world is
full oirvbs " ; King John, 111. iv. 128 : —
" Shall blow each dust, each straw,
each little rub.
Out of the path."
And Hamlet, in. i. 65 : " Ay, there's
the < K*."
Scene ii.
Scene ii.] This scene is the prelude
to the murder of Banquo, just as the
last scene of Act i. is the prelude to the
murder of Duncan. The position of the
protagonists, however, is now reversed ;
Macbeth and not Lady Macbeth is the
moving spirit in the new tragedy, while
Lady Macbeth is merely acquiescent.
It may be that he detects in her an ele-
ment of weakness, and wishes to spare
her the grim details of the murder.
74
MACBETH
[act III.
Lady M. Say to the king, I would attend his leisure
For a few woids.
Serv. Madam, I will. [Exit.
Lady M. Nought 's had, all 's spent,
Where our desire is got without content : 5
'T is safejjiojje that vyhich wejdestroy,
Than byjdestriictipri^dwelljn doubtful joy.
Enter Macbeth.
How now, my lord ? why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making.
Using those thoughts, which should indeed have died lO
With them they think on ? Things without all remedy
— ^ Should be without regard : what 's done is done.
Macb. We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it :
She '11 close, and be herself; whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth. i 5
But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
II. all\ om. Hanmer. 13. scotch'd] Theobald; searched Ff. 16
. . . suffer] one line Theobald; two lines Ff (the first ending dis-joynt).
joint] become disjoint Bailey conj. suffer] Ff ; suffer dissolution Bailey conj
But
dis-
9. sorriest] Compare 11. ii. 20,
10. Using] entertaining as com-
panions. Compare Pericles, i. ii. 3-7,
the Greek XP^<^^°-^ ^"^^ Latin uti.
11. without all remedy] i.e. beyond
all remedy. Compare Midsummer
Night's Dream, iv. i. 150: " without the
peril of the Athenian law." For the
sentiment, see Love's Labour's Lost,
V. ii. 28 : " past cure, past care " ;
Othello, 1, iii. 202: "When remedies
are past, the griefs are ended"; and
Winter's Tale, in. ii. 223: —
" What's gone and what's past help
Should be past grief."
13. scotch'd] Theobald's "correc-
tion " for the scorch' d of the Folio. The
word means to make incisions or scores
in, to cut slightly, as in Coriolanus, iv.
V. 198 (Folio): "he scotcht him and
notcht him like a Carbinado " ; and
Comedy of Errors, v. i. 183 : " To scotch
your face and to disfigure you " (where
the Folio reads scorch). Skeat, Notes
on English Etymology, 1901, thinks it
is clear that we have here an example of
what is really fairly common in English
— formed as it is by a fusion of Romance
with Teutonic — viz. the evolution of a
new word which has resulted from the
confusion of two others, i.e. the ordinary
verb scorch, meaning originally to excori-
ate or excorticate, and the word score ; a
new verb scorch, really distinct from the
original one, being thus formed, with the
sense of to make an incision on the sur-
face only, to cut with shallow incisions,
etc. The new verb became shortened in
pronunciation, and better known under
the form scotch ; hence the meaning of
the passage is " We have scored or
scratched the snake, wounded him on the
surface only." Whether Skeat is correct
or not in this respect, there is sound
evidence for the spelling scotch or sketch.
See Turbervile's Booke of Hunting
(1576), Oxford reprint, igo8, ch. 57, p.
158, Hunting the " Bore " : " And when
they be neare him, let them caft rounde
about the place where he ftandeth, and
runne vpon him all at once, and it f hall
be harde if they give him not one fkotck
with a fworde, or some wounde with a
Borefpeare."
15. her former tooth] i.e. her tooth as
formerly, before she was " scotch'd."
16. But let . . . suffer] It is quite
certain that this passage did not leave
SC. II.]
MACBETH
/.>
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams, ^
That shake us nightly. Better be with_the^ead,
WhQni_we^to_gain^ur peace, have sent ^ peace,
Than on the torture^f theTnind to lie ^"
In restless ecstasy Huncan is in KFs grave ;
After fife'slitful fever he sleeps well ;
Treason has done his worst : nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing 25
Can touch him further !
Lady M. Come on :
20. peace^ F i ; place Ff 2, 3, 4.
20 '^xr \
Shakespeare's hand as we find it in the
Folio, namely in two truncated lines,
ending " dif-ioynt " and " fufter " ; and
still less in one line as in the above text.
From the passage in Hamlet, i. ii. 20,
" Our state to be disjoint and out of
frame," Bailey's reading, " become dis-
joint," would seem to be an extremely
plausible, if not a certain, correction ;
and from the tenor of the following
passages — viz. Troilus and Cressida, v.
ii. 156 : " The bonds of heaven are
slipp'd, dissolved, and loosed"; and
The Tempest, iv. i. 154: "The great
globe itself, yea all which it inherit,
shall dissolve " — the like remarks would
seem to apply to his reading " dissolu-
tion." Nashe, however, uses " disjoint "
in an active sense : see his Lenten Stuffe,
1599 (ed. McKerrow, iii. p. 214) : " But,
Lord, howe miserably do these Ethnicks
. . . set words on the tenters . . .
wherby they might comprehende the
intire stnce of the writer togither, but
disioynt and teare every sillable betwixt
their teeth seuerally." So that the con-
jecture disjoint itself would furnish an
admirable reading : —
'• But let the frame of things disjoint
\i.e. disjoin] itself.
Both the worlds suffer dissolution."
16. the frame of things'] i.e. the uni-
verse : both the worlds, celestial and
terrestrial. Compare Dryden'sSo/i^/or
St. Cecilia's Day : —
" From harmony, from heavenly har-
mony
This universal /rawe began."
20. peace] "place" is undoubtedly
the correct reading here, and most im-
portHnt editors read it. Hudson well
remarks : " Peace is nowise that which
Macbeth has been seeking ; his end was
simply to gain the throne, the place
he now holds, the fear of losing which
is the very thing which keeps peace
from him." And so Singer (ed. 2) :
" Macbeth gained his place by the mur-
der of Duncan, but certainly did not
obtain peace in any sense of the word."
And so Lettsom (in Dyce, ed. 2) : "The
possessive pronoun ' our ' is fatal to the
reading ' to gain our peace.' Besides
Macbeth did not kill Duncan in order
to gain peace, but to gain power,
grandeur, dignity, etc., in a word,
royalty." Dyce compares what Lady
Macbeth had previously said, i. v, 70
ante. And what of iv. i. 98: "our
high-placed Macbeth"? "Place" in
this sense is very frequent in- the plays.
And "the dead" of line 19 can only in
Macbeth's mind refer to Duncan, whom,
besides, he specially mentions in line
23-
22. ecstasy] " Every species of aliena-
tion of mind, whether temporary or per-
manent, proceeding from joy, sorrow,
wonder, or any other exciting cause "
(Nares, Glossary). Compare Comedy of
Errors, iv. iv. 50 (in the present series,
1907) : " Mark how he trembles in his
ecstasy " ; and the note thereon which
refers to other passages in Shakespeare.
26. Come OH ;] The insertion of such
an address as " Dear my lord," used
with ''Gentle my lord" (line 27), by
Lady Macbeth, would seem to be justi-
fied, and is very effective, having regard
to the interchange of affection shown
between her and Macbeth in this scene,
particularly by Macbeth in "love"
(1. 29), " dear wife I " (1. 36), and "dear-
est chuck " (1. 46). The Folio is mani-
76
MACBETH
[act in
Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks ;
Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.
Mach. So shall I, love ; and so, I pray, be you.
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo : 30
Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue :
Unsafe the while, that we
Must lave our honours in these flattering streams,
And make our faces vizards to our hearts.
Disguising what they are.
Lady M. You must leave this. 35
Mach. O ! full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife !
Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.
Lady M. But in them nature's copy 's not eteme.
festly imperfect here, but of course it is
impossible to determine exactly what
Shakespeare wTOte.
30. vememhrance\ a quadrisyllable,
and should be so printed, as in Twelfth
Night, I, i. 32: "And lasting in her
sad rememberance." Compare " mon-
sterous," in, vi. 8 post, and " enter-
ance," i. v. 39 ante. It is not so much
that a syllable is interposed as that the
termination is added without any
shortening of the word in pronuncia-
tion ; and this is frequent in the plays,
and with the Elizabethans generally :
e.g. Drayton in his Moon-calf uses
"monstrous" and "monsterous" as
suits his metre. (See Chalmers, Eng-
lish Poets, vol. iv. p. 1296.)
31. Present hint eminence] i.e. assign
him the highest rank.
32. Unsafe . . . we] This line is so
defective in the Folio, both as to con-
struction and metre, that adequate
emendation is next to impossible, al-
though perhaps the meaning is reason-
ably clear. The Clar. Edd. well remark
that the words to be supplied should
express a sense both of insecurity and
of humiliation in the thought of the arts
required to maintain their power. " It
is a sure sign," says Steevens, " that
our royalty is unsafe when it must
descend to flattery and stoop to dissimu-
lation."
38. nature's copy's not eteme] i.e. their
holding by " copy " from nature is not
for ever. A brilliant example of Shake-
speare's mastery of the use of legal
expressions, and perhaps also of his
fondness for a play uron words. The
allusion is to the well-known system in
English law of holding land by " copy
of court roll." See Coke on Littleton
(ed. 1670) c. ix. s. 73, on Tenant by
Copy : " Tenant by copy of court roll is
as if a man be seised of a manor within
which manor there is a custom which
hath been used time out of mind of man,
that certain tenants within the same
manor have used to have lands and
tenements, to hold to them and their
htirs in fee simple, or fee tail, or for
term of life, at the will of the lord ac-
cording to the custom of the same
manor." The evidence of the tenants'
holding was the copy of the roll made
by the steward of the lord's court. See
also Cowell's Interpreter (1607), s.v.
Copiehould [tenura per copiam rotuli
curiie); and Les termes de lu Ley (1629),
p. 100. Just as, in the case of the
tenure of the estate being only for the
life of the tenant, and not in fee simple
or fee tail, the estate would be at an end
and revert to the lord on the former's
death, so the tenure of their lives of
Banquo and Fleance under Nature as
" lady of the manor " would be at an end
on their deaths. Steevens, Mason,
Knight, and Elwin thought that by
" nature's copy " Shakespeare meant the
" human form divine," " the individual,"
" the particular cast from Nature's
mould"; and I have no doubt that the
double meaning was in his mind: but
the legal colouring is particularly clear,
especially if we have regard to " that
great band " {i.e. bond) in line 50.
For cterne, the older form of eternal,
see Hamlet, 11. ii. 512: "On Mars's
armour forged for proof eteme."
Shakespeare may have had in mind
Chaucer's Knightes Tale, 1308 sqq,
(ed. Skeat), 1303 sqq. (ed. Pollard) : —
SC. K.]
MACBETH
77
Macb. There's comfort yet ; they are assailable :
Then be thou jocund. Ere the bat hath flown 40
His cloister'd flight ; ere to black Hecate's summons
The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums,
Hath rung night's yawning peal,
There shall be done a deed of dreadful note.
Lady M. What 's to be done ? 45
Macb. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, ^ —
Till thou applaud the deedT Come, seeling night,
47. seeling Ff ; sealing Rowe.
" O cruel goddes that governe
This world with binding of your
word eterne,
And wryten in the table of atha-
maunt
Your parlement, and your eterne
graunt.
What is mankinde more un-to you
holde
Than is the sheep that rouketh in
the folde ? "
It is extremely remarkable that these
two words eterne and rouketh should
thus occur in one passage in Chaucer,
and also in one passage of this play,
viz. lines 38 and 52 of this scene. It is
strong evidence of a reminiscence on
Shakespeare's part of his reading in
Chaucer, and of the correct meaning of
"rooky" in line 52. See the note
thereon.
42. shard-borne'] i.e. as Shakespeare
probably thought (compare Antony and
Cleopatra, iii. ii. 20, and Cymbeline, iii.
jii. 20), borne on "shards" or horny
wing-cases, elytra. But it is in fact the
upper pair of wings which are converted
into these hard cases, and which close
over the back and protect the lower or
true wings which most species use in
flight. Toilet read " shard-born " (after
F 3) and interpreted "born in dung";
which is a conceivable meaning. Liddell
thinks the "tree-beetle" is here meant,
and the following interesting passage
from The Theater of Insects, by Tho.
Movffet, Dr. in Phyfick (Insectorum
. . . Theatrtim, 1634, added to Top-
sell's History of Four-footed Beasts,
1658), p. 1014, would seem to support
his view : " Some there are which fly
about with a little humming ; fome with
a terrible & with a formidable noife . . .
but their breeding in dung, their feeding,
life, and delight in the fame, this is
common to them all. . . . The Tree-
Beetle is very common, and everywhere
to be met with, efpecially in the moneths
of yuly and Auguft, after Sun-fet, for
then it flyeth giddily in mens faces with
a great humming and loud noife. . . .
We call them Dorrs in English ; the
French Hannetons. The fheaths of their
wings are of a light red colour. ... It
is recorded in our Chronicles, that in the
year of our Lord 1574 on the 24 of
February there fell fuch a multitude of
them into the River Severn, that they
ftopt and clog'd the wheels of the
Water-mils." If Mr. Justice Madden is
right in supposing (see his Diary of
Master Wm. Silence, 1897) that Shake-
speare in his youth resided for a time in
" the Cotsalls" in Gloucestershire, it is
quite possible that the tale of this visita-
tion of beetles or locusts would reach
his ears.
46. dearest chuck] a familiar term of
endearment, in grim contrast to the in-
tended murder of Banquo. The word
also occurs in Love's Labour's Lost,
Twelfth Night, Henry V., Othello, and
Antony and Cleopatra.
47, 48. Come . . . day] Compare
Juliet's kindred apostrophe to Night in
Romeo and Juliet, iii. ii. 5 : —
" Spread thy close curtain, love per-
forming Night,
That rude day's eye may wink " ;
where it cannot be too strongly insisted
on that the ¥ olio runaway's is a corrup-
tion of the worst kind.
47. seeling] In the language of fal-
conry to " seel " was to sew up the eye-
lids of a hawk by running a fine thread
through them, in order to make her
tractable. Cotgrave has: "Siller les
yeux. To feele, or fow vp, the eyelids ,
{and thence alfo) to hoodivinke, blinde
keepe in darkneffe, deprive of fight.'
Compare Othello, ni. iii. 210: "To
seel her father's eyes up" ; and Antony
78
MACBETH
[act hi.
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,
And, with thy bloody and invisible hand,
Cancel, and tear to pieces, that great bond 50
Which keeps me pale ! — Light thickens ; and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood ;
51. pale] Ff ; paled Hudson (Staunton conj.).
and Cleopatra, in. xiii. 112 : " The wise
gods seel our eyes." Herein also Shake-
speare plays upon the legal meaning of
" seal."
50. Cancel . , . bond] '' Band " is only
a variant spelling of bond, and the word
should be so printed here in respect of
the necessary rhjTne with " hand." For
this spelling, see Comedy of Errors, iv.
ii. 49 : " Tell me, was he arrested on a
band?" The legal metaphor is con-
tinued from line 38 ; and the reference
is probably to Banquo'sbond of life; as
in Richard III. iv. iv. 77: " Cancel his
bond of life, dear God, I pray"; and
compare Cytnbeitne, v. iv. 27 : —
" Take this Hfe,
And cancel these cold bonds."
51. pale] Staunton's impression was
that this should be paled, on the ground
that the context required a word imply-
ing restraint, abridgement of freedom,
etc., rather than one denoting dread ;
and there is something to be said for
this view. See particularly, in. iv. 24 :
" But now I am cabin'd," etc.
51. thickens] Malone compares
Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar [March,
126] : " But see, the welkin thicks
apace."
51. crow] i.e. the rook, not the carrion
crow, which is not gregarious.
52. Makes . . . wood] It is per-
fectly clear that some words, the last
rhyming with " crow," have been care-
lessly omitted by the Folio printers.
Possibly either " all on a row," which
is used by Nashe in his Lenten Stuffc,
1599 (ed. McKerrow, iii. p. 198) : " The
gods, and gods [sic] and goddesses all
on a rowe, bread and crow, from Ops to
Pomona" ["crow" meaning here, 1
presume, the mesentery of an animal :
see the Oxford Diet, s.v.], or the phrase
ill due arow, which occurs in a rare book,
The Fountaine of Ancient Fiction, by
Richard Lynche (1599) : —
" Next whom [Autumne] (as placed
all in due aro7v)
Sits grim-faced Winter covered all
with snow,"
may be accepted as something like
what Shakespeare waote to illustrate,
as he must have done, the marshalled
flight of the birds returning to roost for
the night. Compare Shelley's " legioned
rooks " in his Eugancan Hills, line 70,
52. rooky] This somewhat obscure
epithet, however spelt (and it should be
spelt rouky), does not mean "murky"
or " dusky " (Roderick, quoted in
Edwards's Canons of Criticism, 1765) ;
nor "damp," "misty," " steaming with
exhalations" (Steevens, also Craig) ; nor
" misty," " gloomy " (Clar. Edd.) ; nor
"where its fellows are already as-
sembled" (Miiford); nor "frequented
by rooks " (Marshall) ; and has nothing
to do with the dialectic word " roke "
meaning " mist," " steam," etc. I be-
lieve the spelling " rouky " or " roukie "
is the older and better form ; as in
3 Henry VI. v. vi. 47: "The raven
rouk'd her [i.e. setiled down, roosted] on
the chimney's top"; and that passage
gives us the key to the meaning here,
which I think is simply the " rouking "
or perching wood, i.e. where the rook
(or crow) settles for the night. And
this is in accordance with the whole
tenor of the context ; and I do not see
why Shakespeare should not have
formed his adjecti%'e from the verb.
Elizabethan English was flexible enough
for that. Chaucer has the word in the
passage already quoted (1. 39 supra),
" the sheep that rouketh in the folde "
[i.e. cowers down : " Rukkiin, or cowre
down " : Promptorium Parvulorum] ;
and also in his Nonne Priestes Tale
(ed. Skeat, B. 4416) ; " O false mordrer,
rouking [i.e. crouching] in thy den "
(this being the reading of the Corpus,
Petworth and Lansdowne MSS. —
others having lurking, which both Skeat
and Pollard print, and which does not
seem nearly so effective). " Moral "
Gower has the word in his Confessio
Amantis, bk. iv. line 1669 (speaking of
slothful monks and preachers) : —
" Bot now thei rue ken in here nest
And resten as hem liketh best."
SC. III.]
MACBETH
79
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,
Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse.
Thou marvell'st at my words : but hold thee still ; 55
Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.
So, pr'ythee, go with me. [Exeunt.
SCENE III. — The same. A park, with a road leading to the
palace.
Enter three Murderers.
1 Mur. But who did bid thee join with us ?
3 Mur. Macbeth.
2 Mur. He needs not our mistrust ; since he delivers
Our offices, and what we have to do.
To the direction just.
I Mur. Then stand with us.
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day : 5
Now spurs the lated traveller apace,
Shakespeare's favourite author Golding
has it in his translation of Ovid's
Metam. bk. xv. 400 (se super imponit)
of the phoenix, " He rucketh downe
uppon the fame, and in the fpyces dyes "
(ed. 1593, p. 184 verso ; ed. Rouse, 1904,
1. 441).
54. nighVs . . . rouse] Steevens
quotes Sidney's Astrophel and Stella
(ed. Arber, bk. v. 96, 1. 10) : " In night,
of Sprites the ghaftly powers do stir" ;
and Ascham's Toxophilus (ed. Arber,
52 ; ed. Aldis Wright, 1904, p. 24) :
" For on the nighte tyme & in corners,
Spirites and theues, rattes and mise,
toodes and oules . . . and noysome
beastes, vse mooste styrringe, when in
the dayelyght, and in open places whiche
be orde3ned of God for honeste thynges,
they darre not ones come, which thinge
Euripides noted verye well, sayenge, II
thinges the night, good thinges the daye
doth haunt &> vse. Iphi. I Tau." (line
1027).
Scene in.
Enter three Murderers] Johnson here
remarks: "The perfect spy mentioned
by Macbeth in the foregoing scene,
has, before they enter upon the stage,
given them the directions which were
promised at the time of their agreement ;
yet one of the murderers suborned, sus-
pects him of intending to betray them ;
the other observes that, by his exact
knowledge of 7vhat they were to do he
appears to be employed by Macbeth,
and needs not to be mistrusted."
Malone says : " The third assassin
seems to have been sent to join the
others from his superabundant caution.
From the following dialogue it appears
that some conversation has passed be-
tween them before their present entry
on the stage." Paton and also Baynes
in Notes and Queries, 1869, have ad-
duced arguments in support of a theory
that this third murderer was Macbeth
himself; and Irving in the XIX. Cen-
tury, 1877, that he was the Attendant
mentioned in scene i. lines 46, 72,73 of
this Act; and Libby (quoted by P'ur-
ness) in New Notes on Macbeth, Tor-
onto, 1893, that he was Ross ; but their
arguments, however ingenious, are not
very convincing. I have little doubt
that Shakespeare, referring to Macbeth's
previous speech in scene i., and remem-
bering that Macbeth had undertaken to
" advise " the two murderers " where to
plant" themselves (line 128) simply pro-
vides for this by dispatching some trusty
attendant to join the other two. For
dramatic purposes, which was all Shake-
speare cared about, there is no need of
any special or further identification.
6. lated] belated, benighted. Com-
pare Antony and Cleopatra, m. xi. 3 : —
" I am so lated in the world that I
Have lost my way for ever."
80 MACBETH [act m.
To gain the timely inn ; and near approaches
The subject of our watch.
3 Mur. Hark ! I hear horses.
Ban. [ Within.] Give us a light there, ho !
2 Mur. Then it is he : the rest
That are within the note of expectation, lO
Already are i' the court.
1 Mur. His horses go about.
3 Mur. Almost a mile ; but he does usually,
So all men do, from hence to the palace gate
Make it their walk.
Enter Banquo, and Fleance, with a torch.
2 Mur. A light, a light !
3 Mur. 'T is he.
I Mur. Stand to 't. 1 5
Ban. It will be rain to-night.
I Mur. Let it come down.
{Assaults Banquo.
Ban. O, treachery ! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly !
Thou may'st revenge— O slave ! {Dies. Fleance escapes.
3 Mur. Who did strike out the light ?
1 Mur. Was 't not the way ?
3 Mur. There^*? but on^_down ; the son is fled.
2 Mur. " We have lost 20
Best half of our affair.
I Mur. Well, let 's away, and say how much is done.
[Exeunt.
■J. and] end F i. Q. Give us a light] Give tts light Pope; Give light
Hanmer. g. it is] Pope; 'tisFf. 14. Fleance] Fleans Ff. 17. O . . .
fly I] one line Hanmer, two lines Ff.
9-11. Then . . . aftoivi] The te.xt here 19. Who did strike . . . the way?]
should be printed in three lines ending Probably it was the First Murderer who
respectively within, already and about, struck out the light, and who to the
10. note of expectation] the list of query of the 1 hird replies, " Was 't not
guests expected at the " solemn sup- the way ? " i.e. the proper way to set to
per." Compare Romeo and Juliet, i. ii. work, and to avoid discovery.
36 ; " whose names are written there."
/
sc. IV.] MACBETH II
SCENE IV. — A room of state in the palace.
A banquet prepared. Enter MACBETH, Lady Macbeth,
ROSSE, Lenox, Lords, and Attendants,
Macb. You know your own degrees, sit down : at first and last,
The hearty welcome.
Lords. Thanks to your majesty.
Macb. Ourself will mingle with society,
And play the humble host.
Our hostess keeps her state ; but, in best time, 5
We will require her welcome.
Lady M. Pronounce it for me, Sir, to all our friends ;
For my heart speaks, they are welcome.
Enter first Murderer, to the door.
Macb. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks.
Both sides are even : here I '11 sit i' the midst. lO
Be large in mirth ; anon, we '11 drink a measure
The table round. — There 's blood upon thy face.
Mur. 'Tis Banquo's then.
Macb. 'T is better thee without, than he within.
Is he despatch'd ? 15
I, 2. You . . . welcome.] as in Delius ; divided after Jirst by Capell (Johnson
conj.) ; after downe : in Ff. i. at first] And first Rowe (ed. 2) ; To first Johnson
conj. 14. he] him Hanmer.
Scene /f.] Macbeth has now reached Steevens has an apt quotation from
"the highest point of all his greatness," Holinshed (ed. 1587, vol. iii. p. 805):
only to be pursued and tortured by the "The King [Henr\' VIII.] caused the
Nemesis of his own vivid imagination, queene to keepe the eftate, and then
I. at first and last] i.e. from begin- fate the ambaffadours and ladies as they
ning to end. Compare 1 Henry VI. v. were marfhalled by the K., who would
V. 102 : " Ay, grief, I fear me, both at not fit, but walked from place to place,
first and last" ; cind Cymbeline, I. iv. 102: making cheare to the queene and the
"Would hazard the winning both of ftrangers." See a.\so Bacon's New A t-
first and last." Practically the same lantis (Spedding, iii, 148): "Over the
expression as " from first to last," as in chair is a state, made round or oval,
King John, 11. i, 326 ; As You Like It, and it is of ivy."
IV. iii. I40; Othello, m. iii. 96; and 6. require] request, not with the
King Lear, v. iii. 195. " At first " modern meaning of demanding as of
should end the first line; "and last" right.
should commence line 2. Metrical^, I 11. large] liberal, free. Compare
see no objection to splitting the phrase Antony and Cleopatra, in, vi. 93 ; —
in this way. " Antony most large
5. state] originally the canopy, then In his abominations."
the chair of state with a canopy. Cot- 14. 'Tis better . . . within] ]o\\n^on
frave has " Dais or Daiz. A cloth of rightly interprets, " I am more pleased
ftate, Canopie, or Heauen, that stands that the blood of Banquo should be on
Quer the heads of Princes thrones ; also, thy face than in his body. Shakespeare
the whole State, or feat of Eftate." might mean, ' It is better that Banquo's
82 MACBETH [act iii.
Mur. My lord, his throat is cut ; that I did for him.
Macb. Thou art the best o' the cut-throats ; yet he 's good,
That did the like for Fleance : if thou didst it,
Thou art the nonpareil.
Mur. Most royal Sir,
Fleance is 'scap'd. 20
Macb. Then comes my fit again : I had else been perfect ;
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As broad and general as the casing air :
But now, I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears. — But Banquo's safe? 25
Mur. Ay, my good lord, safe in a ditch he bides.
With twenty trenched gashes on his head ;
The least a death to nature.
Macb. Thanks for that. —
There the grown serpent lies : the worm, that 's fled,
Hath nature that in time will venom breed, 30
No teeth for the present. — Get thee gone ; to-morrow
We '11 hear ourselves again. {Exit Murderer.
Lady M. My royal lord.
You do not give the cheer : the feast is sold.
That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a-making, "'"■v.
17-19. Thou . . . nonpareil] so Rowe ; F i ends Cut-throats, Fleam: Noii\
pareill. 32. hear ourselves] F i ; hear't, ourselves, Theobald; hear thee our-^
selves Hanmer ; hear, ourselves Steevens ; hear, ourselves, Dyce. 33. sold]
cold Pope. 34. vouch'd] vouched Rowe. a-making.] Hudson ; a making-
F i; making; Ff 2, 3, 4; making, Pope; a making, Malone.
blood should be on thy face than he in 243 : " Hast thou the pretty worm of
this room.' " Malone agrees with this. Nilus there ? "
Hunter thinks Macbeth does not ad- 32. hear ourselves again] Theobald's
dress the murderer, but utters the sent- reading, " hear 't ourselves again," must
ence aside, with this meaning, which be right ; " ourselves " is Macbeth him-
Chambers follows, " It is better that self, as in Richard II. 1. i. 16 : —
the murderer should be without the " ourselves will hear
banquet than that Banquo should be The accuser and the accused freely \
inside as a guest"; but this is fanciful, speak." j
having regard to Macbeth's previous Hence we do not require " ourself " as •
subornation of the crime. There is no the Clar. Edd. suppose. They read |
effective antithesis unless we construe, " hear ourselves again," as in the above /
"the blood is better outside thee text, and interpret, " We will talk with/
than inside him." I think the same one another again"; but this is cer-l
idea occurs to Lady Macbeth in v. tainly wrong, and does not accord with*
i. 39. Macbeth's mood.
19. nonpareil] the paragon. Com- 33-35' the feast . . . welcome] " That
pare Twelfth Night, i. v. 273: "The which is not given cA^^r/w//)' cannot be
nonpareil of beauty"; also Antony and called 2. gift : it is something that must
Cleopatra, 111. ii. 11: Cymbeline, 11. v. be paid for " (Johnson).
8 ; and Tempest, iii. ii. 108. 34. vouch'd] warranted ; a well-
29. worm] serpent, in Elizabethans, known legal term from the law French
Compare Antony and Cleopatra, iv. ii. voucher; Latin, vocare.
<^
sc. IV.] MACBETH 88
'T is given with welcome. To feed were best at home ;
From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony ; 36
Meeting were bare without it.
Macb. Sweet remembrancer ! —
Now, good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both ! , ^
Lett. May it please your highness sit?
The Ghost <?/"Banquo enters, and sits in ^ikCM'ET'R's place,^.^
Macb. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd, ^ 40
Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present ;
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness,
Than pity for mischance !
Rosse. His absence, Sir,
Lays blame upon his promise. Please it your highness
To grace us with your royal company? 45
Macb. The table 's full.
Len. k Here is a place reserv'd. Sir.
Macb. Where? _ 3^^^^"
Len. Here, my good^lord. What is 't that moves your high-
ness ?
^^-^ Macb. Which of you have done this ?
Lords. What, my good lorcL? .
Macb. Thou canst not say, I did it : never shake ^^'^^^^^''^^^o
Thy gory locks at me.
Rosse. Gentlemen, rise ; his highness is not well.
Lady M. Sit, worthy friends. My lord is often thus.
And hath been from his youth : pray you, keep seat ;
The fit is momentary ; upon a thought 55
43. mischance !] Pope ; Mischance. Ff, 48. One line Capell, two lines Ff.
36. ceremotiy'} a trisyllable, as fre- sued in his office. See further Cowell's
quently in Shakespeare. Interpreter (1607) ; Les Termes de la
37. remembrancer .'] I have no doubt Ley (1629) ; Blount's Law Diet. (1670),
that there is here a reference — playful and Jacob's Law Diet. (ed. 1744) s.v.
of course — to the Remembrancers So here Lady Macbeth is playfully
(Rememoratores), officers of the Ex- alluded to as holding the office of /^im^'s
chequer, of whom there were three, i.e. Remembrancer and reminding Macbeth
The King's Remembrancer, the Lord of his duties as ^host.
Treasurer's Remembrancer, and the 39. The G host of Banquo enters] For
Remembrancer of First Fruits. The various opinions regarding the Ghost,
King's Remembrancer, amongst other see the Introduction,
duties, entered in his office all recog- 41. grac'd] gracious or gracing,
nisances taken before the Barons of Compare King Lear, i. iv. 267 : " a
the Exchequer for any of the King's graced palact" ; znd the use of guiled
debts, and made out process for the for guileful or gulling {i.e. beguiling) in
breach of them ; and all informations Merchant of Venice, iii. ii. 97 and iv. i.
upon penal statutes were entered and 186 ; and other words of like character.
84 MACBETH [act m. ,/
He will again be well. If much you note him, ^'^
You shall offend him, and extend his passion ;^ .J'T^
Feed, and regard him not. — Are you a man i*- "^
Macb. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.
Lady M. O proper stuff ! 60
This is the very painting of your fear :
This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O ! these flaws, and starts
(Impostors to true fear), would well become
A woman's story at a winter's fire, 65
Authoris'd by her grandam. Shame itself!
Why do you make such faces ? When all 's done,
You look but on a stool.
Macb. Pr'ythee, see there ! behold ! look ! lo ! how say you ?
Why, what care I ? If thou canst nod, speak too. — 70
If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send
Those that we bur>', back, our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites. [Ghost disappears.
Lady M. What ! quite unmann'd in folly?
Macb. If I stand here, I saw him.
Lady M. Fie ! for shame !
Macb. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' th' olden time, 75
Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal ;
64. Impostors to true'] F i ; Impostors of true Hanmer ; Impostures true to
Johnson conj. ; Impostures of true Capell. 76. human] Theobald (ed. 2);
humane Ff. gentle] genWal Theobald (Warburton) ; ungentle Seymour conj.
57. extend his passion] i.e. prolong ht entombed in the raven or the Kight^' \
his suffering or emotion. and Malone cites Kyd's Cornelia (v. i.
60. proper stuff!] Contemptuously, 33-36, ed. Boas, 1901) : —
for "mere rubbish." " Where are our Legions? Where
63. flaws] bursts of passion ; a meta- our men at Armes ? .
phor from a sudden squall or gust of The earth, the sea, the vultures
wind. In the primary sense compare and the Crowes,
Hamlet, v. i. 239 : " a wall to expel the Lyons and Beares, are theyr best
winter's flaw " ; and in the sense of Sepulchres."
civil commotion, see 2 Henry VI. iii. i. 76. human] Not distinguished in
354: "Do calm the fury of this mad Shakespeare's time from humane (the
bred _;?att'." Folio reading) either in spelling or pro-
64. to] i.e. compared with. nunciation. Compare Coriolanus, in.
66. authorised] sanctioned. war- i. 327 : —
ranted. Also with the accent on the " It is the humane way ; the other
same syllable in Sonnet xxxv. 6 : course
"Authorising thy trespass with com- Will prove too bloody."
pare." 76. gentle weal] " The peaceable com-
72, 73. monuments . . . kites] For munity, the state made quiet and safe
this thought Steevens compares Spen- by human statutes" (Johnson). A
ser's Faerie Queene, n. viii. 16 : " But proleptic use of the adjective, with the
SC. IV.]
MACBETH
85
Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd
Too terrible for the ear : the time has been.
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end ; but now, they rise again, 80
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns.
And push us from our stools. This is more strange
Than such a murder is.
Lady M. My worthy lord.
Your noble friends do lack you.
Macb. I do forget. —
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends , 85
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, love and health to all ; |
Then, I '11 sit down. — Give me some wine : fill full : — -
I drink to the general joy of the whole table,
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss ; 90
'Would he were here ! to all, and him, we thirst,
And all to all.
Lords. Our duties, and the pledge.
Re-enter Ghost.
Macb. Avaunt ! and quit my sight ! let the earth hide thee !
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold ;
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes, 95
Which thou dost glare with.
Lady M. Think of this, good peers,
77. have been] hath been Johnson.
F I ; times have Ff 2, 3, 4.
meaning "purged the commonwealth
and thus made it gentle."
81. mortal murders] i.e. deadly
wounds, each of itself sufficient to eflect
murder. The expression is very curious,
bold and unusual ; but no doubt it re-
fers to the " trenched gashes . . . the
least a death to nature" of lines 27, 28
ante.
92. all to all] all good wishes to all.
So Timon of Athens, 1. ii. 234: "All to
you " ; Henry VIII. i. iv. 38 : " And
to you all, good health." The phrase
seems nothing more than a compre-
hensive or " omnibus " clause for pledg-
ing healths.
92. Re-enter Ghost] See the Intro-
duction hereon.
95. speadation] Johnson explains
this by "the power of sight"; but it
78. time has] Grant White ; times has
means rather the intelligence arising in
the brain but seen in the eye, of which
the eye is only the medium. This is
well illustrated in Troilus and Cressida
III. iii. 107 sqq. : —
" but eye to eye opposed
Salutes each other with each
other's form ;
For speculation turns not to itself,
Till it hath travell'dand is mirror'd
there
Where it may see itself."
And ib. line 106, where the eye is
called " That most pure spirit of sense.'
See also Othello, i. iii. 27, where the
eyes are called " speculative instru-
ments." Singer quotes Bullokar's
Expositor, 1616: "Speculation: the
inward knowledge or beholding of a
thing."
86
MACBETH
[act III.
But as a thing of custom : 't is no other ;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
Macb. What man dare, I dare :
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger ;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble : or, be alive again.
And dare me to the desert with thy sword ;
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
lOO
105
loi. the Hyrcan] th' Hircan Fl i, 2; th' Hyrcan Ff 3, 4; the Hircanian
Capell. 105. trembling I inhabit then,] F i; trembling I inhabit, then Ff
2, 3, 4; trembling I inhibit, then Pope, Theobald, Hanmer, Warburton, HalH-
well ; trembling I evade it, then Johnson conj. ; trembling I inhibit then,
Capell ; trembling I inhibit thee, Malone (Steevens conj.), Dyce ; trembling I
exhibit, then A. Hunter (Robinson conj.); trembling I inhabit here Camb. Edd.
conj. ; trembling I inherit then, Kinnear conj.
99. What . . . rfarc] This line would
seem to be merely a continuation of
line 96, Macbeth, as it were, being im-
patient of Lady Macbeth's interruption,
which comes in by way of parenthesis.
1 00, loi. bear . . . Hyrcan tiger]
Compare Henry V. 111. vii. 154 : " the
Russian bear " ; 3 Henry VI. i. iv.
155:—
" more inhuman, more mexor-
able,
O ten times more than tigers of
Hyrcania."
And Hamlet, 11. ii. 472 : " The rugged
Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast."
Malone quotes Daniel's Sonnets [see
no. xi. in Elizabethan Sonnets ed.
Sidney Lee, 1904, vol. i. p. 94]: —
" But yet restore thy fierce and
cruel mind
To Hyrcan tigers and to ruthless
bears ! "
"The English poets," the Clar. Edd.
remark, " probably derived their idea
of Hyrcania and the tigers from Pliny's
Nat. Hist. bk. xviii. c. 18 ; but through
some other medium than Holland's
translation, which was not published
till 1601 " ; and the same editors also
refer to the rhinoceros as mentioned in
Holland on the page opposite to that
in which he speaks of " tigers bred in
Hircania." But Shakespeare had al-
most certainly read this in Holland.
104. dare] See, for a similar chal-
lenge, Richard II. iv. i. 74: "I dare
meet Surrey in a wilderness " ; i.e. for
a fight to the death, with none to inter-
rupt. See, too, Coriolanus, iv. ii. 23-
24; and Cymbeline, i. i. 167.
104. desert] " Hyrcanian deserts "
are referred to in Merchant of Venice,
11. vii. 41.
105. inhabit then] Malone, who
adopted, and rightly adopted. Pope's
reading as modified by Steevens, viz.
" inhibit thee," had " not the least
doubt" that this is the true reading,
though Theobald was not satisfied about
it. Malone says: " In All 's Well that
Ends Well, i. i. 157, we find in Ff 2, 3,
and 4 ' the most inhabited sin of the
canon,' instead of 'inhibited.' The
same error is found in Stowe's London,
1618 ,'In the year 1506 ... the said
stew houses in Southwarke were for a
season inhabited, and the doores closed
up, but it was not long ... ere the
houses there were set open again.'
Steevens's correction [viz. thee for
♦ then '] is strongly supported by the
punctuation of the old copy." Henley
thought Shakespeare used " inhabit " in
a neutral sense, i.e. remain in his castle ;
and possibly this may be supported by
examples of the intr. sense given in the
Oxford Diet., e.g. Langland P. PI. c. x.
188 : " Eremites that enhabiten by the
heyeweyes"; and W. Phillips, Lin-
schoten (1598), 170: "In all places of
India where the Portugals inabite " ; and
Steevens thought the word might have
such a meaning. He compares As Yott
Like It, III. iii. 10 : " O knowledge ill-
inhabited, worse than Jove in a thatch'd
house ! " Herford (Eversley edition)
in his text reads inhabit then, but in his
note inhabit ; and explains : "probably
' If I display trembling ' (invest myself
in it as an outward habit)." I am
SC. IV.]
MACBETH
87
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow !
Unreal mockery, hence! — {Ghost disappears.
Why, so ; — being gone,
I am a man again. — Pray you, sit still.
Lady M. You have displaced the ^mirth, brokethe good
meeting,
Witlunost admir'd disorder.
Macb. Can such things be, i lo
And overcome us like a summer's cloud.
Without our special wonder? You make me strange
Even to the disposition that I owe,
When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 1 1 5
When mine is blanch'd with fear.
Rosse. What sights, my lord .?
Lady M. I pray you, speak not ; he grows w^rse and worse ;
Question enrages him. At once, good night: —
106. horrible] terrible Theobald (ed. 2), Warburton, Johnson. 109, no.
broke . . . disorder] so Rowe, one hne Ff. 114. When tiow] Now when
Hanmer. 116. is] are Malone.
strongly of opinion that Malone's view
is the true one, and that we are bound
to read "inhibit thee." The technical
term " inhibition " (well known to
Shakespeare) meant a prohibition for-
mally issued by a person or body pos-
sessed of civil or ecclesiastical authority ;
and I think Shakespeare must here mean
that, although Macbeth of his own royal
authority could have inhibited Banquo
from challenging him to single combat,
still Macbeth would not, King though
he were, out of fear and trembling issue
his inhibition and decline to meet him,
provided only Banquo would assume any
shape — of a wild beast though it might
be — but that of the horrible shadow.
This view seems to be confirmed by the
quotations m the Oxford Diet., e.g. Hol-
land, Livy (1600), xlii. xxv. 1129: "By
expresse words he was inhibited to
beare armes without his own frontiers " ;
and Knox, First Blast (Arb.), 48: "The
natiue King made streit inhibition to
all his subiectes that none should adhere
to this traitor."
106. baby] Here possibly in the ordin-
arymeaning, as in many other passages,
e.g. Hamlet, 1. iii. 101-105 : "You speak
like a green girl . . . think yourself a
baby." Walker, Dyce, Herford, and
Liddell, however, understand it to mean
"doll"; "a baby or puppet that chil-
dren play with " (Phraseologia Genera-
lis). See King John, in. iv. 58 : —
" If I were mad, I should forget my
son.
Or madly think a babe of clouts
were he " ;
and Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair,
Act in. sc. i. etc.
no. admir'd] wonderful. Compare
Midsummer Night's Dream, v. i. 27:
" strange and admirable " ; and see
Richard II. 11. iii. 95, despised for de-
spicable ; ibid. n. iii. 109, detested for
detestable; and Richard III. 1. iv. 27,
unvalued for invaluable, etc.
113. disposition] seems to be used
here in the sense of " temporary mood "
(Clar. Edd.) rather than with the mean-
ing of " settled disposition " ; both of
which senses are used by Shakespeare.
Compare Hamlet, i. v. 172 : " To put
an antic disposition on " ; and King
Lear, 1. iv. 241 : " Put away these dis-
positions that of late transform you." But
the latter sense is quite possibly correct.
113. owe] own, possess; very fre
quent in Shakespeare.
88
MACBETH
[act hi.
Stand not upon Jhe order of your going,
But go atjonce.
Len. Good night, and better health 120
Attend his majesty !
Lady M. A kind good night to all !
[Exeunt Lords and Attendants.
Macb. It will have blood, ^ey sayj blood will have blood :
Stones have beerTknown to move, and trees to speak ;
Augurs, and understood relations, have
By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth 125
The secret'st man of blood. — What is the night ?
Lady M. Almost at odds with morning, which is which.
122. It . . . blood :] so Rowe, two lines Ff. blood they say :] Ff ; blood. — They
Jay, Johnson. 124. Augurs] Theobald; Augures Ff; Auguries Rann (Steevens
conj.). and understood] that understood Rowe ; that utidcrstand Warburton.
122. It] i.e. the bloody deed, the
murder of Banquo ; although Johnson
says: "Macbeth justly infers that the
death of Duncan [sic] cannot pass un-
punished." I do not agree with the
pointing of the above text which is
practically that of the Folio ; I prefer a
colon or semicolon after each " blood,"
as in Steevens, the Globe, Cambridge,
and others.
123. Stones] The Clar. Edd. think that
probably Shakespeare alludes to some
story in which the stones covering the
corpse of a murdered man v^ere said to
have moved of themselves and so re-
vealed thefsecret ; but Paton {Notes and
Queries, 1869) thinks that such a super-
stition would only reveal the murdered
man, not the secret murderer. He
suggests the allusion |may be to the
rocking stones, or " stones of judgment,"
by which it was thought the Druids
tested the guilt or innocence of accused
persons.
123. trees to speak] This is probably
a reminiscence of Shakespeare's reading
in Reginald Scot's Discoverieof Witch-
craft (1584), bk. viii. c. 6, p. 165, where
we find the following : " This practice
[on the part of ' cousening crallers '] be-
gan in the okes of Dodona, in the which
was a wood, the trees thereof (they sale)
could speake." It is not perhaps quite
?o probable that he refers to Virgil's
Aeneid, iii. 22 sqq., the story of the tree
which revealed the murder of Polydorus.
124. Augurs] Perhaps this should be
printed " augures," i,e. auguries ;
augure, now obsolete, bemg a by-form
of augury. Compare Vlono^s Montaigne
{1603), I. xxii. : "As a good Augur
or foreboding of a martiall minde. ' ' The
word does not occur elsewhere in Shake-
speare. In Florio's Worlde of IVordes,
1598, an augure. a foothfaying, a pre-
diction, etc., are given as the equivalents
of Augurio ; and a foothfaier, a fore-
bodcr, etc., as the equivalents of Auguro.
Compare the form " augurer " in jfiilius
Ccssar, 11. i. 200 and 11. ii. 37 ; Corio-
lanus, II. i. i ; and Antony and Cleo-
patra, IV. xii. 4 and v. ii. 337 ; and the
form "augure" for "augur" or
"augurer" in Holland's Pliny, 1601,
bk. viii. ch. 28.
124. understood relations] Johnson
explained: "the connection of effects
with causes to understand relations as
an augur, is to know how these things
relate to each other, which have no
visible combination or dependence."
125. magot-pies] magpies. " Also
called magotty-pie. Mag is short for
magot, Fr. tnargot, a familiar form of
Marguerite, also used to denote a mag-
pie" (Skeat).
125. choughs] The chough is a bird
of the crow family, and the word for-
merly included all the smaller "chatter-
ing " species, and especially the jack-
daw. Compare the note on " russet-
pated choughs," i.e. grey-headed jack-
daws, in Midsummer Night''s Dream,
in. ii. 21, in the present series, 1905 ;
and see The Tempest, 11. i. 265 : " a
chough of as deep chat,"
sc. iv] MACBETH 8»
Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person,
At our great bidding ?
Lady M. Did you send to him, Sir?
Macb. I hear it by the way ; but I will send. 130
There 's not a one of them, but in his house
I keep a servant fee'd. I jvilL to-morrow
(And betimes I will) to the weird sisters :
More shall they speak ; foFliow Tarn bent to know,
By the wbrsT means, the worst, ^or mine own good, 135
An causes" shaTlgrve way : I am in blood
Stepp^cTiTi so'far, thaf, sfroultl I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er.
Strange things 1 have in head, that will to hand,
Which must be acted, ere they may be scann'd. 140
Lady M. You lack the season of all natures, sleep.
Macb. Come, we '11 to sleep. My strange and self-abuse
Is the initiate fear, that wants hard use :
We are yet but young in deed. \Exeiint.
133. And betimes] Ff; Ay, and betimes Hudson (Anon. conj.). ivdrd]
weyard F i. 135. zi'orst. For . . . good] Johnson ; worst, for . . . good,
Ff; worst, for , , . good; Rowe. 144. in deed] Theobald; indeed Ff.
133. And betimes] The line as it either from their dislike to mere repeti-
stands in the Folio wants an initial tion of a phrase or construction, or for
syllable, and there is a strong probabil- greater clearness. A good example
ity that "Ay" (in the form "I," in occurs in The Tempest, 111. i. 61: —
which it is almost invariably printed in " and would no more endure
the Folio) has fallen out, especially as This wooden slavery than ... to
the parenthetic sentence is bracketed in suffer
the Folio. Such restoration of the text The flesh-fly blow my mouth."
would serve to emphasise Macbeth's 141. season] seasoning, relish, which
resolve to resort to the weird sisters keeps nature fresh,
without delay. For the rhythm of the 142. self-abuse] deception, self-delu
line as amended, compare sc. vi. (v.) sion. For "abuse " meaning "delude '
post : " Ay, and wisely too." or " deceive," see The Tempest,v. i. 112
136. / am in blood, etc.] Com- " Some enchanted trifle to abuse me "
pare Midsummer Night's Dream, in. ii. and the well-known passage in Hamlet
^y : — II. ii. 632: *' Abuses me to damn me.'
" If thou hast slain Lysander in his But Shakespeare also uses the word
sleep, vvith the sense of "ill-usage" and of
Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge " reviUng," etc. Although " self-abuse "
in knee deep, is h>-phened in the Folio, Shakespeare
And kill me too." probably considered " self" a mere ad-
138. Returning . . . g-o] Apparent irre- jective.
gularities of construction of this kind 144. in deed] A palpable and neces-
are not uncommon in Shakespeare and sary correction -of the indeed of the
the Elizabethans; and probably arose Folio.
90 MACBETH [act m.
SCENE v.— The heath.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches^ meeting HECATE.
I Witch. Why, how now, Hecate ? you look angerly.
Hec. Have I not reason, beldams as you are,
Saucy, and overbold? How did you dare
To trade and traffic with Macbeth,
In riddles, and affairs of death ; 5
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never call'd to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done lO
Hath been but for a wayward son,
Spiteful, and wrathful ; who, as others do,
■ Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now : get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron 1 5
Meet me i' the morning : thither he
Will come to know his destiny.
Your vessels, and your spells, provide,
Your charms, and everything beside.
I am for the air ; this night I '11 spend 20
Unto a dismal and a fatal end :
Great business must be wrought ere noon.
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop profound ;
I '11 catch it ere it come to ground : 25
And that, distill'd by magic sleights.
Shall raise such artificial sprites.
As, by__the strength of their illusion,
Shall jdraw hjm on toUjis confusion.
He^ shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear 30
His,hopes^bove~wisdom, grace, and" fear;
And you all know, security
Is mortals' chiefest enemy.
\Song, within : " Come away, come away," etc.
Scene v.] This scene is almost uni- ii. 1. 52 and in. ii. 41 ; Midsummer
versally considered, and rightly, to be Night's Dream, v. ii. 391: "the triple
an interpolation. See the Introduc- Hecate's team." Shakespeare is in all
tion. probability not responsible for the tri-
Hecate] The common pronunciation syllable in J Henry VI. in. ii. 64 : "I
of this name was dissyllabic, as in speak not to that railing Hecate,"
SC. VI.]
MACBETH
91
Hark ! I am call'd : my little spirit, see, 34
Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me. {Exit.
I Witch. Come, let's make haste : she'll soon be back again.
\Exeunt.
SCENE VI. — Fores. A room in the palace.
Enter Lenox and another Lord.
Len. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts.
Which can interpret further : only, I say,
Things have been strangely borne. The gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth : — marry, he vi^as dead : —
And the right-valiant Bariquo walk'd too late ; 5
Whom, you may say, iPt please you, Fleance kill'd.
For Fleance fled. ' Men must not walk too lateT^
Whol;annof~\vant the thought, how monstrous
It wasJpr_Malcolm, and for Donalbain,
To kill their^acTous father ?i damned fact ! lo
I. My . . thoughts,] one line Rowe, two lines Ff. 2. further] Johnson;
farther FL 5. r»^^<-va/ta«^] hyphened by Theobald. 8. Who cannot want
the] You cannot want the Hanmer ; We cannot want the Kei,<5:htley ; Who can
but want the Collier (ed. 3) ; Who can now want the Hudson (Cartwright conj.).
Fores] So Capell. The location
of this scene seems to be quite im-
material, and it may be that it is out of
place, Shakespeare having designed it
to come after Act iv. sc. i., and the inter-
polator of III. V. having shifted it to its
present place to prevent the clashing of
III. V. and IV. i. See the Introduction.
another Lord] Johnson cannot assign
any reason vv-hy a nameless character
should be introduced ; and he some-
what acutely suggested that " in the
original copy it was written with a very
common form of contraction ' Lenox
and An.'' lor which the transcriber, in-
stead of '■Lenox and Angus,'' set down
' Lenox and another Lord.'' "
3. home] carried on. Compare 17
infra, and Much Ado About Nothing,
II. iii. 229 : " The conference was sadly
borne " ; i.e. seriously conducted.
5. walk'd too late] Compare Kyd,
Spanish Tragedie, in. iii. 39, ed. Boas,
1901 : —
" Why hast thou thus vnkindely kild
the man ?
Why ? because he walkt abroad so
late."
8. want the thought] i.e. help think-
ing. "Want" has here, I think, the sense
of "dispense with," "be without " : who
can fail to have, to entertain, the
thought ; and the expression was, as
Baynes, Shakespeare Studies, 1896,
p. 275, remarks, " perfectly good Eng-
lish of Shakespeare's day, as it still re-
mains perfectly good Northern English
or Lowland Scotch of our own day. In
these dialects the verb ' want,' especi-
ally when construed with negative par-
ticles, has precisely the meaning which
the critics insist the sense requires,"
8. monstrous] The spelling here
should follow the pronunciation, which
must be trisyllabic. The same spelling
and pronunciation occur in Drayton's
Mooncalf, and should be adopted where
the metre requires a trisyllable, as e.g.
in Othello, 11. iii. 217 : " 'Tis monsterous.
lago, who began 't ? " The dissyllable,
however, is much more common in the
plays. See Walker, Vers. p. 4, for
further instances. Spenser inserts the
" e " in such words as " handeling,"
Faerie Queene, i. viii. 28, and " enter-
ance," i. viii. 34. Compare i. v. 39, and
III. ii. 30 ante.
10. fact] act, deed. The word seems
92 MACBETH [act m.
How it did grieve Macbeth ! did he not straight,
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear,
That were the slaves of drink, and thralls of sleep ?
Was not that nobly done ? Ay, and wisely too ;
For 't would have anger'd any heart alive 1 5
To hear the men deny it. So that, I say.
He has borne all things well : and I do think,
That, had he Duncan's sons under his key
(As, an 't please Heaven, he shall not), they should find
What 't were to kill a father ; so should Fleance. 20
But, peace ! — for from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear,
Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself?
Lord. The son of Duncan,
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth, 25
Lives in the English court ; and is receiv'd
Of the most pious Edward with such grace.
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect. Thither Macduff
Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid 30
To wake Northumberland, and warlike Siward ;
That, by the help of these (with Him above
To ratify the work), we may again
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights,
11. it did grieve Macbeth/] Capell ; it did greeue Macbeth ? Ff. ig. an'f]
Theobald (ed. 2) ; and't Ff, 21. 'cause] Pope; cause Ff. 24. son] Theo-
bald; Somies F i. 31. Siward] Theobald (ed. 2), Hanmer ; Seyward Ff.
to occur in about a dozen passages [in 27. of] by. Compare " of Macbeth,"
the plays, and invariably with the line 4 ante.
meaning of evil deed or act. 29, 30. Takes from . . . upon his aid]
12. tear] The Camb. Edd. suspect, The arrangement of the above text,
but I think without much reason, that which is that of the Folio, perhaps leaves
this passage did not come from the something to be desired. The Folio
hand of Shakespeare. printers failed to nose that "thither,"
19. an't] Adopted by Theobald for like "hither," '-whether," "either,"
the Folio form and 't, if it. See the "neither," and other words of the like
Oxford Diet. s.v. character, is freciue/itly written or pro-
21. broad] open, plain ; as in Timon nounced in the contracted form " ther."
of Athens, 111. iv. 64: "who can speak Line 29 should probably run, "Takes
broader ih^n he that has no house to ... thither (ther) Macduff 's gone";
put his head in ? " unless the final foot of line 30 is read
22. tyrant's] Here, perhaps, as in as " upon 's aid."
some other passages, with the sense of 30. upon] in, to. Compare Richard
usurper's. Compare iv. iii. 67 post, II. in. ii. 203: —
and As You Like It, 11. i. 61: "Are "And all you southern gentlemen
mere usurpers, tyrants and what 's in armes
worse." Upon his party."
SC. VI.]
MACBETH
93
^
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives, 35
Do faithful homage, and receive free honours,
All which we pine for now. And this report
Hath so exasperate the king, that he ^
Prepares for some attempt of war. ,^
Len. Sent he to Macduff?
Lord. He did : and with an absolute " Sir, not I," 40
The cloudy messenger turns me his back,
And hums, as who should say, " You '11 rue the time
That clogs me with this answer ".
Len. And that well might
Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel 45
Fly to the court of England, and unfold
His message ere he come, that a swift blessing
May soon return to this our suffering country
Under a hand accursed !
Lord, I '11 send my prayers with him.
[Exeunt.
38. the king] Hanmer ; their king Ff. 44. te a caution, to] to a caution, t' Ff.
V-^
35. Free . . . knives] i.e. free our
feasts and banquets from bloody knives
— a somewhat bold but not unusual in-
version. Compare the Epilogue to The
Tempest, i8 : " frees all faults " from
me, i.e. frees me from all faults ; and
Golding's Ovid's Metam., ii. 395 (ed.
Rouse, 1904) : —
" And at the Wagoner a flash of
lightning sent
Which strake his bodie from the
life."
36. free] i.e. due to freemen.
38. exasperate] the euphonic form
of the part. pass, is frequent in early
English. Compare Troitfts and Cres-
sida, V. i. 34: "Why art thou then
exasperate ? " ; Midsummer Night's
Dream, V. i. 402: "create"; ib. 412:
" consecrate," etc. ; and see Abbott,
Shak. Gram. ss. 341, 342.
39. Sent he to Macduff?] The most
satisfactory arrangement of the text
would end line 39 with " he," and
commence line 40 with " To Macduff."
40-42. and . . . say] The King's
messenger, when curtly received by
Macduff with his " Sir, not I," sullenly
turns his back on him, muttering some
such words as, etc.
40. aiso/?f<f] curt, peremptory. Com-
pare Coriolanus, in. i. 90 : —
" Mark you
His absolute ' shall ' ? "
41. cloudy] cloudy-visaged, sullen.
Compare 1 Henry IV. iii. ii. 83 : —
" such aspect
As cloudy men use to their adver-
saries."
41. me] The enclitic or ethic dative
adds "vivacity to the description," as
the Clar. Edd. remark.
44. Advise . . . hold] I see nothing
unusual in this construction, or tending
to necessitate any change of the text.
Compare King Lear, i. ii. 188 : " I
advise you to the best " ; ib. in. vii. 9 :
" advise the Duke, where you are going,
to a most festinate preparation."
48, 49. suffering country Under] i.e.
country suffering Under. Compare
Richard II. iii. ii. 8 : " As a long-parted
mother with her child." Or, it may be
that the construction is quite regular,
with "under a hand accursed" follow-
ing as a kind of relative clause.
ACT IV
SCENE I. — A dark cave. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.
Thunder. Enter the three WITCHES.
^\^
1 Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd,
2 Witch. Thrice and once the hedge-pig vvhin'd.
3 Witch. Harpier cries : — 'T isTime, 't is time. ivvA
Scene a] This scene is worthy to
rank with the great sleep-walking scene
as one of the most marvellous examples
of Shakespeare's dramatic invention
when invention was needful to the
action. He found little or no material for
this scene in Holinshed. There Mac-
beth " had learned of certaine wizzards
in whose words he put great confidence
(for that the prophesie had happened so
right that the three fairies or weird
sisters had declared unto him) how that
he ought to take heede of Makduffe,
who in time to come shoulde seeke to
destroie him. And surelie hereupon
had he put Makduffe to death but that
a certaine witch whome hee had in
great trust etc." {Hist. Scot. ii. 1746).
1. the brinded cat] the first sister's
"familiar," the mention of which, in
all probability, suggested to the inter-
polator the Graymalkin of i. i. 8 ;
" brinded," i.e. branded, as if with fire,
streaked, is the Elizabethan form of
•'brindled." Milton, Paradise Lost,
vii. 466, speaks of the tawny lion shak-
ing his brinded mane.
2. Thrice and once] The pointing
" thrice, and once," is preferable and in-
dicates that the hedge-pig (the second
sister's " familiar ") had whined thrice,
and afterwards had whined once again.
"Thrice "in this line is no repetition
of "thrice" in line i. Numero deiis
impare gandet, as Theobald reminds us
from Virgil, Eclog. viii. 75; and the
second weird sister, by her method of
reckoning, merely introduces a second
odd number. Ben Jonson, however,
seems to use even numbers in the
ritual of his Masque of Qtieenes (ed.
Gifford, new ed. 1S46, p. 572a) : —
3.
liar.
And if thou dost what we would
have thee do,
Thou shall have three, thou shall
have four.
Thou shall have ten, thou shall
have a score."
Harpier] The third sister's " fami-
" Steevens is beyond question
right in his supposition that the Harpier
of the Folio may be only a misspelling,
or a misprint, for harpy ; and he quotes
Marlowe's Taniburlaine, 1590 [First
Part, II. vii. 50; Dyce's Marlowe, vol.
i. p. 51] : " And like a Harper tyres
{i.e. drags) upon my life." This is the
4° (1605) form of the word ; the 8° of
the date 1590 reads " Harpyr," where-
as that of 1592 reads " Harpye " (see
Tucker Brooke's ed. 1910). With
Steevens's suggestion Dyce agrees.
The Folio form Harpier is in a way
analogous to the form artier {i.e. artery)
found in Marlowe's Tamburlaine (Part
I.), II. vii. 10, and also in iv. i. of Part
n.; and in the old poets and in various
forms, e.g. arter, artire, etc. (See
Dyce's notes ad loc. cit.) But what-
ever the old form, it is clear that
" Harpie " or " Harpy " is the only
correct form for a modern text. The
Clar. Edd. suggest that "the Hebrew
word Habar, ' incantare,' mentioned in
Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, bk.
xii. ch. i. may be the origin of the
word." I believe Shakespeare simply
took it firom the " fatall birds" of The
F curie Queene, 11. xii. 36 : " The hellish
Harpyes prophets of sad destiny " ; a
prophetic bird being eminently suitable
as a " familiar" in this scene.
3. 'Tis time] Steevens aptly remarks
that this familiar does not cry out that
94
SC. I.]
MACBETH
95
I Witch. Round about the cauldron go ;
In the poison'd entrails throw. — 5
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom, sleeping got,
6. cold] Ff; the cold Rowe (ed. 2); coldest Steevens (1793); a cold Staunton
conj, 7. has'] Ff 3, 4; hast Hanmer; Aa'i Ff i, 2. thirty one] Capell;
thirty one : Ff.
it is time for them to begin their enchant-
ments, but cries, i.e. gives them the
signal, upon which the third sister com-
municates the notice to the others.
6. cold^ The superlative, coldest, i.e.
very cold, of Steevens and the Variorum
of 1821 is undoubtedly correct; no idea
of excess being necessarily implied.
Absolute superlatives were very fre-
quent in Elizabethan English. Com-
pare Hamlet, i. i. 114: "A little ere the
mightiest Julius fell." Even Knight
admits that the line as it stands in the
Folio " is certainly defective in rhythm,
and that a pause here cannot take the
place of a syllable." The usual inane
attempts have been made to account for
the defective metre by the doctrine of
" natural retardation " — whatever that
may mean — (Knight) ; " due and expres-
sive emphasis " (Collier) ; " an involun-
tary pause " (Delius) ; " two syllables
when slowly pronounced being equiva-
lent to three " (Clar. Edd.) ; "the emo-
tional significance of a word forcing a
slight pause after it" (Liddell), etc. Dyce
approves of the definite article, which,
he says, " has been omitted by mis-
take" ; whilst at the same time sharply
and deservedly criticising the methods
of accounting for the defect which have
been already mentioned. "Yet," says
he, "the mutilated line has found its
defenders and admirers (who, we may
be sure, if the Folio in As You Like It,
11. v. I, instead of ' Under the green-
wood tree,' etc., had given us Under
greenwood tree, etc., would havedefended
and admired that mutilated line also)."
The truth of the matter seems to be
that the two initial letters of "stone"
being identical with the two final letters
of " coldest " caused the latter to be
overlooked by the Folio printer, or
slurred in pronunciation by the person
dictating to him, especially if, as is ex-
tremely probable, he composed from
dictation, and not directly from a MS.
There is no more difficulty in the st of
" stone" following on the st of " cold-
est " than there is difficulty in the
"herbs, plants, 5<ones" of Romeo and
jfuliet, 11. iii. 16; or the "Thou Aost
stone, my heart" of Othello, v. ii. 63.
Only, we must not compare our pitiful
modern " elocution " with the clear and
dignified enunciation of Shakespeare
and his brother " tragedians of the
city."
7. has] If the toad is directly ad-
dressed, hast is probably the correct
reading.
8. swelter'd] Steevens, in language
somewhat Johnsonese, says this " seems
to signify that the animal was moistened
with its own cold exudations." Top-
sell, History of Serpents, ed. 1658, p.
726, speaking of the Toad, says it is
" the most noble kinde of Frog, most
venomous . . . the Latines call it Bufo,
because it swelleth when it is angry."
This then may be Shakespeare's idea.
8. venom] Lyly in his Euphues (p. 327,
Arber) speaks of the toad's " pestilent
poyson in her bowelles " ; and Topsell,
History of Serpents (p. 730, ed. 1658),
says : " All manner of toads, both of
the earth and of the water, are veno-
mous, although it be held that the toads
of the earth are more poysonful than the
toads of the water. . . . But the toads
of the land, which do descend into the
marishes, and so live in both elements,
are most venomous. . . . The Women-
witches of ancient time which killed by
poyfoning, did much ufe Toads in their
confections." See also As You Like It,
II. i. 13. The secretion of the skin-glands
of the toad contains a poisonous sub-
stance (phrynin) acrid enough to be felt
on tongue or eyes and probably con-
ducive to the safety of the toad. See
Chambers's Eticyclopadia, s.v., and a
paper of Dr. Davy in Philosophical
Transactions, 1826, referred to by
Hunter. There is therefore warrant for
the " swelter'd venom " of the poet, and
of the scientist of the time.
96
MACBETH
[act IV.
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
All. Double, double toil and trouble :
Fire, burn ; and, cauldron, bubble.
2 Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake ;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog.
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
All. Double, double toil and trouble :
Fire, burn ; and, cauldron, bubble.
3 Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy ; maw, and gulf,
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark ;
10
15
20
10, 20. Double, double] Steevens ; Double, double, Ff. 23. Witches'] Theo-
bald (ed. 2) ; Witches Ff ; Witch's Singer. 24. ravin'd] ravening Pope.
16. fork] i.e. double tongue. Com-
pare Measure for Measure, iii. i. 16 ; —
" The soft and tender fork
Of a poor worm."
t6. blind-worm's sting] Compare
Midsummer Night's Dream, 11. ii. 11:
"Newts and 6/mi worms do no wrong" ;
Timon of Athens, iv. iii. 182: "The
eyeless venom'd worm " ; and Drayton's
Noah's Floud, 1630 (Bullen's Selectiotis,
1883, p. 189) :—
"The small-ey'd slowe-worme held
of many blinde, . . .
Out of its teeth shutes the invenom'd
slime."
Topsell, supra, p. 763, says: " It being
most evident that it receiveth name
from the blindneiTe and deafneffe thereof.
... It is harmleffe except being pro-
voked ... for the poyfon thereof is very
ftrong." The slow-worm is a harmless
kind of snake, and, as Skeat points out,
the allied words show that it cannot
mean " slow-worm," but that the sense
is rather " slayer " or " striker " from its
supposed deadly sting.
23. mummy] See Hakluyt, Vov, 11. i.
201 (1599) : " And these dead bodies are
the Mummies which the Phisitians and
Apothecaries doe against our wills make
us to swallow." And see Purchas's
Pilgrimage, v. 682, for a method of
manufacturing mummy; and compare
Othello, III. iv. 74. " Egyptian mummy,
or what passed for it, was formerly a
regular part of the Materia Medica,"
says Nares in his Glossary. Dyce
quotes the following from Hill's Ma/ma
Medica in Dr. Johnson's Diet. s.v. :
" We have two substances for medicinal
use under the name of mummy : one is
the dried flesh of human bodies em-
balmed with myrrh and spice : the other
is the liquor running from such mummies
when newly prepared, or when affected
by great heat." Sir Thomas Browne
in his Urn-Burial (ed. 1658, p. 21),
refers to this medicinal use : " The
Egyptian mummies which Cambyses or
time hath spared, avarice now consum-
eth. Mummie is become merchandise,
Mizraim cures wounds, and Pharaoh is
sold for balsams."
23. gulf] stomach, voracious appetite.
Compare Coriolanus, 1. i. 197 (of the
belly) : " only like a gulf it did remain."
The Oxford Diet, quotes Spenser's
Shepherd's Calendar, September, 184 : —
" a wicked Woolfe
That with many a Lambe had
glutted his gulfe."
24. ravin'd] " glutted with prey,"
says Steevens. But more to the point
is Malone's comment, viz. •' Ravin'd
is used for ravenous, the passive parti-
ciple for the adjective." I believe the
passive participle is here used rather for
the active participle ravening, in accord-
SC. I.]
MACBETH
Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark ;
Liver of blaspheming Jew ;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse ;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips ;
Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab.
Make the gruel thick and slab :
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron.
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
All. Double, double toil and trouble :
Fire, burn ; and, cauldron, bubble.
2 Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood :
Then the charm is firm and good.
97
25
30
35
28. Sliver'd] Silver'd Rowe (ed. 2). 33. chaudron] Chawdron Ff. 34.
ingredients] Rowe ; Ingredience Ff. cauldron] Ff 3, 4; Cawdron Ff i, 2.
ance with a usage not uncommon in
Shakespeare and the writers of his time.
It is an example of his use of certain
participial and adjectival terminations,
examples of which may be found in the
note to the Comedy of Errors, v. i. 299,
in the present series, 1907, on " Time's
deformed hand."
27. yew] The yew was regarded as
poisonous by the ancients, by writers in
the Middle Ages and by Shakespeare's
contemporaries. Douce quotes for ex-
ample Batman Uppon Bartholome, xvii.
ch. 161 : " Ewe or yew is altogether
venomous, and against man's nature.
The birdes that eate the redde berryes,
eyther dye, or cast theyr fethers." Com-
pare the "double-fatal yew" oi Richard
II. III. ii. 113, and Hamlet's "juice of
cursed hebenon in a vial," i. iv. 62 :
" hebenon" or " hebon" here undoubtedly
meaning with Shakespeare the yew.
See the admirable papers in the New
Shakespeare Society's Transactions
(1880-5), Part I. p. 21, by Brinsley Nichol-
son, M.D., on "Hamlet's cursed Heb-
enon"; and in Part H. p. 295, by the
Rev. W. A. Harrison, on " Hamlet's
Juice of Cursed Hebona."
28. sliver'd] i.e. cut or sliced off.
Coles's Latin and English Dictionary,
1679, has "To Slive, Sliver, Findo."
Compare King Lear, iv. ii. 34 : —
" She that herself will sliver and dis-
branch
From her material sap " ;
7
and Hamlet, iv. vii. 174: "an envious
sliver broke." As Craig remarks, the
word is still used in dialect and in
America.
28. moon's eclipse] " A most unlucky
time for lawful enterprises, and therefore
suitable for evil designs" (Clar. Edd.).
29. Nose . . . /i/i] Turks and Tartars,
as Craig notes, were regarded by Eliza-
bethans as types of extreme cruelty and
malignity. Compare Merchant of
Venice, iv. i. 32 : —
" Stubborn Turks and Tartars never
train'd
To offices of tender courtesy."
33. chaudron] Steevens says, "That
is, entrails, a word formerly in common
use in the books of cookery, in one of
which, printed in 1597, I meet with a
receipt to make a pudding of a calf's
chaldron. Again, in Dekker's Honest
Whore, 1635 [First Part, sc. vii. Pear-
son's reprint, ii. 40] ' Sixpence a meale,
wench, as well as heart can wish, with
Calves chaldrons and chitterlings.' At
the coronation feast of Elizabeth of
York, queen of Henry VH., among other
dishes, one was ' a swan with chaudron,'
meaning sauce made with its entrails."
34. ingredients] See i. vii. 11 ante.
37. 2 Witch]This should be assigned
to the first weird sister.
37. babooti] With the accent on the
first syllable. " Babion or great mon-
chie": Minsheu's Ductor jm linguas,
1617,
98 MACBETH [act iv.
Enter Hecate.
Hec. O, well done ! I commend your pains,
And every one shall share i' the gains. 40
And now about the cauldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.
[Music and a song, " Black spirits," etc.
2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, 44
Something wicked this way comes. — {Knocking.
Open, locks.
Whoever knocks.
' IM • v^ui'u- Enter Macbeth.
*3C^ Macb.^Hpvf now, you secret, black, and midnight hags !
What is 't you do ?
All. J A deed^without a name. tZ-Jf'''^
Macb. I conjure you, by that which you profess, 50
Howe'er you come to know it, answer me :
' Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches ; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up ;
Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down ; 55
46, 47. Two lines Dyce, one line Ff.
39-44. These lines, z^t^r. from " Enter ment. Compare Hatnlet, v. ii. i86:
Hecate" to "Black Spirits," etc., are "a kind of yesty collection"; and
absolutely and beyond question spurious, Winter's Tale, iii. iii. 94, where " yeast "
and should either be bracketed or struck occurs as yest.
out of the text. See Introduction. 55. bladed corn] Probably means
44. prickino-] Steevens says, " It is a corn enclosed in the blade, before it is
very ancient superstition that all sudden eared; green corn. See Lyly's Lot)«'s
pains of the body, which could not Metamorphosis, v. iv., " Ceres. I to my
naturally be accounted for, were pre- harvest, whose come is now come out
sages of somewhat that was shortly to of the blade into the eare." Shakespeare
happen. Hence Upton has explained a uses it of grass, Midsummer Night's
passage in the Miles Gloriosus of Dream, i. i. 211 : " Decking with liquid
Plautus [11. iv. 44] : ' Timeo quid rerum pearl the bladed grass," From Scot's
gesserim, ita dorsus totus prurit,' " Discoverie of Witchcraft, bk. i. ch. iv.,
Lines 44 and 45 are properly assigned we know that one of the powers imputed
to the second weird sister ; and lines 46 to witches was that " they can trans-
and 47 not to her but to the third weird ferre come in the blade from one place
sister. to another." Staunton refers to the
48. black'] sinister. Compare Henry article on husbandry in Comenius,
V. II. iv. 56 : " that black name, Edward, Jayiua Linguarum, 1673, ch. 32 : " As
Black Prince of Wales." soon as standing corn shoots up to a
50. conjure] always with the accent blade, it is in danger of scathe by a
on the first syllable, except in Romeo tempest." In Holland's Pliny, 1601,
and ytiliet, 11. i. 26, and Othello, i. iii. xvii., xviii., we find, " Otherwise the
105. corn would never spindle, but blade
53. yesty] foaming, frothy, in a fer- still, and run all to leafe." Hence
SC. I.]
MACBETH
99
Though castles topple on their warders' heads ;
Though palaces, and pyramids, do slope
Their heads to their foundations ; though the treasure
Of nature's germen tumble all together.
Even till destruction sicken, answer me 60
To what I ask you. Vi.^vv.c
1 Wz'Uk Speak. j^. »-— ^'^ ^
2 Witch. Demand.
3 Witch. '"^"^^ We'll answer.
I Witch. Say, if thou 'dst rather hear it from our mouths,
Or from our masters? c^.-uL-;
Macb. Call 'em ; let me see 'em.
I Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten
Her nine farrow ; grease, that's sweaten 65
From the murderer's gibbet, throw
Into the flame.
All. Come, high, or low ;
Thyself, and ofifice, deftly show.
57. slope] stoop Capell conj. 59. germen] Delius ; Germaine Ff i, 2 ; germain
Ff 3, 4 ; germains Pope; germins Theobald ; german Ehvin ; germens Camb. Edd.
(Globe ed.), Dyce (ed. 2). all together] Pope; altogether Ff. 62. thou ^dst]
Capell; th' hadst Ff. 63. masters?] Pope; masters. Ff; masters'? Capell.
Shakespeare must refer to a tempest so
violent as to "lodge" or lay the young
corn before it is heavy- eared.
55. lodg'd] laid, beaten down. Com-
pare 2 Henry VI. III. ii. 176 : " Like
to the summer's corn by tempest
lodged" ; and Richard II. iii. iii. 163 ;
" Our sighs and they [tears] shall lodge
the summer corn."
57. pyramids] Not the pyramids of
Egypt, but used of any towering or
spire-like structure, obelisk, etc. Greene
(?) uses the form pyramis in 1 Henry
VI. I. vi. 21. Coles's Diet, has " Pyra-
mis : an Egyptian building like a spire-
steeple."
57. slope] Not used elsewhere by
Shakespeare.
59. germen] germens, . i.e. germs,
seeds of matter, in the largest sense,
seems to be the correct reading here.
Craig thinks so and prints it so in his
" Oxford " text. See King Lear, iii. ii.
8 : " Crack Nature's moulds, all germens
spill at once " ; and for the idea com-
pare Winter's Tale, iv. iv. 490 : —
" Let Nature crush the sides o' the
earth together
And mar the seeds within."
The collective form germen (the ger-
maine of the Folio) may, however, be
correct.
62, 63. Say . . . masters ?] This
should be assigned to all the sisters,
not to " I Witch."
64. sow's . . . eaten] Steevens thinks
Shakespeare may have caught this idea
from the laws of Kenneth IL of Scot-
land : ^'I/a/ow eate hir pigs, let hir
he f toned to death, and buried, so that
no man eate of hir flefh." See Holin-
shed, Hist. Scot. (1585), p. 1336. Top-
sell, Hist. Four-footed Beasts (ed. 1658),
p. 516, also mentions this: "Yet will
Hogs eat of Swines flefh, yea many
times the dam eateth her yong ones . . .
fo fhall we obferve fome Sows to de-
vour the fruit of their own wombs."
65. farrow] The Oxford Diet, quotes
B. Googe, Heresbach's Husb. (1586),
iii. 1496: "If you will have two /ar-
rowes in one yeere " ; and the Clar.
Edd., Holland's Pliny, viii. 51: "One
sow may bring at one farrow twentie
pigges."
65. sweaten] irregularly formed, ob-
viously to rhyme with "eaten." See
Abbott, 344.
67, 68. Come . . . show] This is a
continuation of the first sister's invo-
100 MACBETH [act iv.
Thunder. First Apparition, an armed head.
Macb. Tell me, thou unknown power, —
1 Witch. He knowsJhxJhpught :
J* Hear his speech^but^ay thou nought. ' 7°
f I App. Macbeth r Macbeth nVTacbeth ! beware Macduff;
Beware the thane of Fife. — Dismiss me. — Enough.
{^Descends.
^ Macb. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks :
^ / Thou hast harp'd my fear aright. — But one word more :—
.^ // I Witch. He will not be commanded. Here 's another, 75
i^ / ' More potent than the first.
' /
Thunder. Second Apparition, a bloody child.
2 App. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth !—
Macb. Had I three ears, I 'd hear thee.
2 App. Be bloody, bold, and resolute : laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born 80
Shall harm Macbeth. {Descends.
Macb. Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee?
But yet I '11 make assurance double sure.
And take a bond of fate : thou shalt not live ;
71. One line Rowe, two lines Ff. 78-81. Had . . . Macbeth] three lines
Var. 1803, viz. Had . . . bold. And . . . man, For . . . Macbeth. 79. Be
. . . scorn] one line Rowe, two lines Ff. 83. assurance double] Pope ; assur-
ance : double F 1 ; assurance, double Ff 2, 3, 4.
cation, and should not be assigned to See also sc. xiv. (p. 271): "Be silent,
ALL, as in the text. then, for danger is in words."
68, 76, 86. an armed head, etc.] Up- 74. harfd] Cotgrave has : " Parler k
ton, Crit. Obs. 1746, says, "The armed taston : to speak by ghesse or conjee-
head represents symbolically Macbeth's ture, onely to harpe at the matter."
head cut off and brought to Malcolm by 75. i Witch] This should be second
Macduff. The bloody child is Macduff sister.
untimely ripped from his mother's 76. More potent] The Second Ap-
womb. The child with a crown on his parition, i.e. Macduff, is more potent
head, and a bough in his hand, is the than the first, i.e. Macbeth,
royal Malcolm, who ordered his soldiers 80, 81. /o»' 7ione . . . Macbeth] See
to hew them down a bough and bear it Holinshed, Hist. Scot. ii. 1746 (Boswell-
before them to Dunsinane." Mull, Stone's Holinshed, p. 36) : "Andfuerlie
Macbeth, p. xiii., thinks the "armed herevpon, had he put Macduffe todeath,
head" is intended to prefigure "war- but that a certaine witch, whomehee had
like Siward " ; and the " bloody Child " in greate truft, had told that he should
the son of Macduff slain by Macbeth, neuer be flaine with man borne of anie
70. say . . . noMg-A<]Steevens quotes woman, nor vanquifhed till the wood of
Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, sc. x. (p. 303, Bernane came to the caftell of Dun-
ed. Bullen) :— finane." , . , -,
"demand no questions — 83, 84. assurance . . . bond 0/ Jate]
But in dumb silence let them come Anotherof Shakespeare's legal allusions.
and go." Macbeth, unwitting that Macduff is not
sc. I] MACBETH 101
That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, 85
And sleep in spite of thunder. —
Thunder. Third Apparition^ a child crowned, with a tree in
his hand.
What is this,
That rises like the issue of a king ;
And wears upon his baby brow the round
And top of sovereignty ?
All. Listen, but speak not to 't.
3 App. Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care 90
/ Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are :
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him. [Descends.
Macb. That will never be :
Who can impress the forest ; bid the tree 95
Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements ! good !
Rebellious head, rise never, till the wood
Of Birnam rise ; and our high-plac'd Macbeth
86, 87. Whal . . . king] so Rowe, one line Ff. 89. top] type Theobald
conj. 93. Birnam] F 4 ; Byrnam Ff i, 2, 3. 97. Rebellious head] Theobald
(Warburton) ; Rebellious dead Ff; Rebellion's head Hanmer (Theobald conj.).
98. Birnam] Byrnan F i. our] your S. Walker conj.
in the number " of woman born," is on the first syllable, with the last syl-
assured that Macduff cannot harm him. lable long, elsewhere in the play. Both
When he says that Macduff " shall not pronunciations seem to have been em-
live," he means to bind fate to perform ployed by the old Scottish writers like
the promise, and make his own " assur- Wyntoun.
ance double sure" by slaying him. 97. Rebellious head] " Rebellion's
See Rushton, Shakespeare a Lawyer, head," the conjecture of Theobald, has
1858, p. 20 : " Referring not to a single, been almost universally adopted, and
but to a conditional bond, under or by rightly so. " In the present passage,"
virtue of which when forfeited, double say the Clar. Edd., " the expression,
the principaJ sum was recoverable." ' Rebellion's head' or ' Rebellious head'
Compare in. ii. 50 ante. (whichever be the true reading), is sug-
89. top] Theobald's conjecture, type, gested to Macbeth by the apparition of
is, for Theobald, singularly unhappy, the armed head, which he misinterprets.
Grant White has an excellent note to as he misinterpreted the prophecies of
the effect that the crown not only com- the others." For " head" in the sense
pletes (especially in the eye of Mac- of armed force, see 1 Henry IV, iii. ii.
beth the usurper) and rounds, as with 167 : " A mighty and a fearful head
the perfection of a circle, the claim to they are " ; ib. iv. i. 80, iv. iii. 103 ;
sovereignty, but it is, figuratively, the and Hamlet, iv. v. loi : " young
top, the summit, of ambitious hopes. Laertes, in a riotous head."
93. Birnam] a high hill near Dunkeld, gS. Birnam] The Folio Byrnan is a
12 miles W.N.W. of Dunsinnan, which form of Birnam, and not a mere error,
is 7 miles N.E. of Perth. See the quotation from Holinshed, 80
93. Dunsinane] In modern spelling, ante.
Dunsinnan. The word here seems to 98. our . . . Macbeth] A somewhat
be accented on the second syllable, but unusual expression, but it seems to be
102 MACBETH [act iv.
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
To time, and mortal custom. — Yet my heart lOO
Throbs to know one thing: tell me (if your art
Can tell so much), shall Banquo's issue ever
Reign in this kingdom ?
All. Seek to know no more.
Macb. I will be satisfied : deny me this,
And an eternal curse fall on you ! Let me know. — 105
Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is this ?
[Hautboys.
1 Witch. Show !
2 Witch. Show !
3 Witch. Show !
All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart ; no
Come like shadows, so depart.
A show of eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand ;
^A.l<[Ci\]0 following.
Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo : down !
Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls : — and thy hair, .
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first : —
A third is like the former : — filthy hags ! 115
Why do you show me this ? — A fourth? — Start, eyes !
What ! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom ?
Another yet? — A seventh ? — I '11 see no more : —
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass,
105, 106. know. — Why'l know Why S. Walker conj. iig. eighth'] eight
Ff I, 2.
merely equivalent to " ourscif, Macbeth, see if thou canst find out Sneak's noise ;
the King." Macbeth is emphasising Mistress Tearsheet would fain hear some
his high position. ' music." The term was also used by
99. the lease of natnre']'N;MuTe's term, Milton, Dryden, and even Wycherley,
the lease of life; another legal reference, who has it in the sense of " company "
Compare ni. ii. 38 ante. without any reference to music. Plain
100. mortal ctistom] the custom of Dra/rr, i. i.: "a whole ?Jots£ of flatterers."
mortality, the universal debt. It would seem to be analogous to the
106. 7ioise] A concert or company of expression " Cry of players," Hamlet,
musicians, usually three in number, who iii. ii. 289.
attended taverns, ordinaries, etc., was iii. ^4 s/i07f .. ./oWort'j;;^] The stage-
called a " noise." There are many ex- direction in the Folio : " A shew oi eight
amples in the dramatists : e.g. one of kings, and Banquo last, with a glasse in
the earliest is Lyly's Mother Bombie, his hand," like many others for which
III. iv. : — Shakespeare is not responsible, is clearly
" Then I wish'd for a noyse wrong (see line 119), unless perhaps we
Of crack-halter Boyes punctuate v\ith a colon after " Banquo,"
On those hempen strings to be and add " the " before " last."
twanging." 119. the eighth]ltv/il\he noticed that
See also ^ Henry IV. u. iv. t2: "And Shakespeare refers to kings only, omit-
SC. I.]
MACBETH
103
Which shows me many more ; and some I see,
That two-fold balls and treble screptres carry.
Horrible sight! — Now, I see, 'tis true;
For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his. — What! is this so?
Witch. Ay, Sir, all this is so : — but why
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly? —
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites.
And show the best of our delights.
I '11 charm the air to give a sound,
1 20
125
130
While you perform your antic round ;
That this great king may kindly say,
Our duties did his welcome pay.
{Music. The Witches dance, and vanish.
Macb. Where are they? Gone? — Let this pernicious hour
Stand aye accursed in the calendar ! —
Come in, without there !
124. What! is] What? is F i ; What is Ff 2, 3, 4 ; What, is Pope.
Where . . . hour] one line Rowe, two lines Ff.
133.
ting all mention of Mary Queen of Scots,
in the "vision." Shakespeare follows
Holinshed in connecting Banquo with
James I. (History of Scotland, 172 sqq.).
121. ttvo-fold . . . sceptres] The two-
fold balls are usually construed as refer-
ring to the double coronation of James,
at Scone and at Westminster. The
"treble sceptres" are in all probability
those of England, Scotland, and Ireland ;
but the expression may refer to the title
assumed by James on 24 October, 1604,
viz. "The Most High and Mightie
Prince, James, by the Grace of God,
King of Great IBritaine, France, and
Ireland, Defender of the Faith." We
find in Holinshed, iii. 979a and
1 1706: "The executours of the said
King [Henry VIII.] ... did cause his
Sonne and heire ... to be proclaimed
king of this realme by the name of
Edward the Sixt, King of England,
France and Ireland, defender of the
faith. . . . The said lords ... in most
solemne manner proclaimed the new
queene by this name and title : Eliza-
beth by the grace of God queene of Eng-
land, France, and Ireland, defender of
the faith, etc." In each case therefore
there were " treble sceptres."
123. blood-bolter'd] i.e. with the hair
in tangled knots, or clotted or matted
together in a coagulated mass. This
obviously refers to the " trenched
gashes " of iii. iv. 27 and the " gory
locks" of III. iv. 51. Steevens refers to
the word as occurring in the form halter
in Holland's Pliny, xii. xvii. (p. 370,
1601), of the "shag long haires" of a
goat's beard, " Now by reason of dust
getting among it, it baltereth and
cluttereth into knots and bals." An-
other form of the word occurs in the
anonymous play Arden of Fevershame,
III. i. 73 (1592) : " Me thinks I see them
with their bolstred haire," etc. Malone
says that " boltered " is a provincial
term well-known in Warwickshire, and
probably in some other counties.
When a horse, sheep, or other animal
perspires much, and any of the hair or
wool in consequence of such perspiration
or any redundant humour, becomes
matted in tufts with grime and sweat,
he is said to be boltered ; and wherever
the blood issues out and coagulates, for-
ming the locks into hard clotted bunches,
the beast is said to be blood-boltered.
The word seems also to have been ap-
plied in Warwickshire to snow, and also
to lumps of flour in a hasty pudding.
125-135. Ay, Sir, . . . there] For good
and weighty reasons which are set forth
in the Introduction, this passage must,
beyond question, be rejected from the
authentic text of Macbeth.
104 MACBETH [act iv.
Enter Lenox.
Len. What's your grace's will? 135
Macb. Saw you the weird sisters ?
Len. No, my lord.
Macb. Came they not by you ?
Len. No, indeed, my lord.
Macb. Infected be the air whereon they ride ;
And damn'd all those that trust them ! — I did hear
The galloping of horse : who was 't came by ? 140
Len. 'T is two or three, my lord, that bring you word,
Macduff is fled to England.
Macb. Fled to England ?
Len. Ay, my good lord,
Macb. Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits :
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook, 145
Unless the deed go with it. From this moment,
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. And even now.
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done :
The castle of Macduff I will surprise ; 150
Seize upon Fife ; give to the edge o' the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool ;
136. weird] Weyard F i ; wizard Ff 2, 3 ; wizards F 4. 144. [Aside'] John-
son. 147. firstlings] F i ; firstling Ff 2, 3, 4, 148. firstlings] F i ; first-
ling Rowe (ed. 2).
144. ajiticipat'st] preventest, by tak- the first acts of the hand" (Clar. Edd.).
ing away the opportunity (Johnson). The only other passage where the word
144. exploits] Perhaps here in the occurs in the plays is Troilus and
sense of deed, feat, skilful achievement, Cressida, Prologue, 27 : —
with a reference possibly to the old legal " our play
meaning of citation or summons. Cot- Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings
grave's Diet. (161 1) has " Exploict : of those broils."
an adiournement or citation " ; and the The Oxford Diet, quotes from Coverdale
Oxford Diet, quotes from Ma\ynes,Aiic. {1535), Prov. 3-9 : " Honoure the Lorde
Law-Merch, 457, "any summons or ... with ye firstlinges of all thine en-
arrest, exploit or assignement." crease."
145. flighty] swift, fleet, a somewhat 153. trace] in the sense of succeeding,
rare usage. The Oxford Diet, quotes following in, another's track, as in
Hulvet (1552), " Flighty, /frMJAr." Com- 1 Henry IV. iii. i. 47: —
pare for the sentiment All's Well that "And bring him out that is but
Ends Well, v. iii. 40 : — woman's son
" on our quick'st decrees, Can trace me in the tedious ways
The inaudible and noiseless foot of of art."
Time And Hamlet, v. ii. 125 : " his semblable
Steals ere we can effect them." is his mirror, and who else would trace
147. 148. firstlings . . . firstlings] him, his umbrage, nothing more."
" the first conceptions of the heart and
sc. II.] MACBETH 105
This deed I '11 do, before this purpose cool ;
But no more sights! — Where are these gentlemen? 155
Come, bring me where they are. [Exeunt.
SCENE W.—Fife. A room in Macduff's castle.
Enter Lady Macduff, her Son, and ROSSE.
L. Macd. What had he done, to make him fly the land ?
Rosse. You must have patience, Madam.
L. Macd. He had none :
His flight was madness : when our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
Rosse. You know not,
Whether it was his wisdom, or his fear. 5
L. Macd. Wisdom ! to leave his wife, to leave his babes.
His mansion, and his titles, in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not :
Jtle wants the natural touch ; for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight, ,-Jo a j_^^
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. L- ^--'^
All is the fear, and nothing is the love ;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.
Rosse. My dearest coz,
I pray you, school yourself: but, for your husband, 15
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
I. L. Macd.] wife Ff passim. 14. coz] cousin Pope, Theobald.
Scene //.] It must be confessed that titled, his possessions ; but title-deeds
portions of this scene, notably lines 30- seems more to the point, as in Henry V.
64, do not sound like Shakespeare's, i. i. 87 : " his true titles to some ancient
The prattling of MacdufTs son may dukedoms." " Title," in English Law,
seem a little far-fetched to us; but pes- is the mode of acquiring a real right,
sibly it satisfied his public. It is note- Cowell, Law Diet. ed. 170S, defines:
worthy that Davenant in his version "titula est justa causa possidendi quod
leaves out these lines. By the murder nostrum est," signifying " the means
of Macduff s young son on the stage whereby a Man cometh to Land." The
Shakespeare perhaps " violates the notion of " right " or " claim of right "
modesty of art"; but as Professor was gradually transferred to theinstru-
Raleigh (Shakespeare, p. 12^) remarks, ments which were evidence of the right,
comparing it with the blinding of Glou- 9. natural iottch] the feeling of natural
cester in Kitig^ Lear, t is a "venial affection, "natural sensibility" (John-
transgression." son). Compare Two Gentlemen of
4. traitors'] "Our flight is considered Verona, 11. vii. 18: "the wily /o«cA of
as an evidence of our treason" love"; and The Tempest, v. i. 21:
(Steevens). " Hast thou, which art but air, a touch,
7, titles] This is usually explained to a feeling." Probably Shakespeare was
mean everything to which he was en- alluding to the golden-crested wren.
106
MACBETH
[act IV.
The fits o' the season, I dare not speak much further :
But cruel are the tinmes, when we are traitors,
And do not know ourselves ; when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear, 20
But float upon a wild and violent sea,
Each way, and move. — I take my leave of you :
19. know] hiowH Hanmer. 19, 20. we hold rumour . . . we . . . we] we
bode ruin . , . we . . . we, or the bold running . . . they . . . they Johnson
conj. 21. sea,] sea many Edd. ; Sea F i. 22. Each way, and move.] F i ;
Each way and wave. Theobald conj. ; And move each way. Capell ; And each way
move. Keightley (Steevens conj.) ; Each ivay, and move— Johnson conj. ; Each
sway and move Staunton conj. ; Each way it moves Hudson (Daniel conj.) ; Each
day a new one Ingleby conj. ; Each way, and none Camb. Edd. conj. ; Each
wayward move Leighton conj.; Each way zve move Rolfe conj.
17. The fits 0' the season] Steevens
ejfplains, perhaps rightly, as the violent
disorders oi the season, its convulsions;
and quotes Coriolanus, iii. ii. 33 : " the
violent fit o' the time." Herford ex-
plains as the " critical emergencies of
the time." The metaphor is of course
from the fits of an intermittent fever.
Compare "life's fitful fever," iii. ii. 23
ayite.
ly. ourselves] perhaps in the recip-
rocal meaning of " one another."
19, 20. when we hold . . . fear]
" When we are led by our own fears to
bel ieve every rumour of danger we hear,
yet are not conscious to ourselves of
any crime for which we should be dis-
turbed with those fears" (Steevens).
The Camb. Edd. say: " It is uncertain
whether this very difficult expression
means ' When we interpret rumour in
accordance with our fear,' or ' w hen
our reputation is derived from actions
which our fear dictates.' " Case thinks
the meaning may be : " We are traitors
and don't know it ; our fears give rise to
definite rumours and yet are themselves
undefined."
22. Each way, and move] Each way
AMOVED, i.e. stirred, roused, excited or
agitated in every way, is, I believe,
what Shakespeare wrote, and not the
senseless corruption which appears in
every text. And the comma of the Folio
should follow " sea " and not " way."
No satisfactory emendation has ever
been proposed for this difficult and ob-
scure little crux of the Folio text. The
suggested reading is, it is hoped, as
nearly perfect as can be both in sense
and form. It does no violence to the old
text, and it restores a word in my opinion
long lost to Shakespeare's vocabulary.
Although now obsolete, the word amove
(O. Fr. amov-er, amouv oir) in the sense
of " stir up," " excite," etc. (any action,
a person to action, the heart, blood, emo-
tions, etc.) is not uncommon in Early
English literature, both with a transitive
(usually pass.) and intransitive mean-
ing. Many examples may be found in
the Oxford Diet. : e.g. Chaucer, Boeth.
I. V. 23: " Sche . . . nothing amoeued
with my compleyntes seide thus"; id.
Clerkes Tale, 442 (498 ed. Pollard) [of
Griselda]: —
" When she had herd al this she
nought ameucd {v.l. amoued]
Neyther in word in cheer [chiere]
or countenance."
Greene, Poems, 136 : " At all these
cries my heart was sore amoved " ; and
Spenser, Faerie Qneene, 11. i. 12 :
" Therewith amoved from his sober
mood"; id, i. iv. 45: "She . . . him
amoves with speaches seeming fit " ; id.
I. viii. 21 : " At her so pitteous cry was
much amoov'd" ; id. i. ix. 18 : —
" And sad remembrance now the
prmce amoves
With fresh desire
his
voyage to
pursew."
Shakespeare uses the figurative mean-
ing here, and in Timoii of Athens, i. i.
46 : " My free drift . . . moves itself in
a wide sea"; but the literal meaning
in an exactly parallel passage, viz.
Cymbeline, ill. i. 28, where the Queen,
speaking of Caesar's shipping, says : —
" On our terrible seas,
Like egg-shells moved upon their
surges, crack'd
As easily 'gainst our rocks."
The form amove was becoming obsolete
SC. II.]
MACBETH
107
Shall not be long but I '11 be here again.
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before. — My pretty cousin, 25
Blessing upon you !
L. Macd. Father'd he is, and yet he 's fatherless,
Rosse. I am so much a fool, should I stay longer,
It would be my disgrace, and your discomfort :
I take my leave at once. {Exit.
L. Macd. Sirrah, your father 's dead : 30
And what will you do now? How will you live?
Son. As birds do, mother.
L. Macd. What, with worms and flies ?
Son. With what I get, I mean ; and so do they.
L. Macd. Poor bird ! thou 'dst never fear the net, nor lime,
The pit-fall, nor the gin. 35
27. One line Rowe, two lines Ff.
in Shakespeare's time (except in the
legal sense, which, perhaps, Shake-
speare had here in mind) ; and the
blunder of the Folio is one which might
readily be made by careless printers,
ignorant or forgetful of the older form,
and either printing from dictation or
from a prompt copy of Shakespeare's
MS. There are very many analogous
forms to be found in the Elizabethan
poets and dramatists, e.g. "awarrant" for
warrant and "avow" for vow in
Greene's jfanies the- Fourth, Induction,
lines 95, 99 (ed. Churton Collins,
1905, vol. 2), where Oberon says : " Nay,
for their sport I will giue them this
gift: to the Dwarfe I giue a quicke
wit, pretlie [sic] of body and awarrant
his preferment to a Princes Service . . .
and avow, that if in all distresses he
call vpon me, to helpe him." Other
examples are *'mate" and "amate,"
"down" and " adown," " cate " and
" acate," "mend" and "amend," etc.
See note on v. i. 75 post. In many
words with a- the force of the prefix is
hardly apparent, so that there is little or
no difference in sense between the forms,
and they were at length confusedly
lumped together in idea. See the Ox-
ford Diet, hereon.
The only other passable readings are
Capell's " and move each way," which
is very tame; Steevens's conjecture,
" And each way move," which is also
tame ; and " each way and none " of the
Camb. Edd., who explain it thus : " we
34. One line Theobald, two lines Ff,
are floating in every direction upon a
violent sea of uncertainty, and yet make
no way."
23. Shall itot] The Folio is evidently
wanting here, and either " It" or " I "
is essential to the sense. The phrase is
merely an example of a not uncommon
colloquial abbreviation, or at any rate,
of an unemphatic monosyllable being
carelessly omitted by the printers. See
Abbott, Gram. ss. 315, 461 ; King jfohn,
III. iv. 78; 1 Henry IV. iv. ii. 83;
and Twelfth Night, iv. ii. 21 ; also
The Tempest, i. ii. 419 : " It goes on, I
see." Examples of the omission of the
subject are, however, to be found in
Elizabethan English. Liddell quotes
Sidney's Arcadia, Sommer repr., p. 41 :
" Then as careluU he was what to do
himselfe : at length [he] determined
never to leave seeking him."
29. my disgrace] i.e. to my manhood.
30. Sirrah] " not always a term of
reproach," says Malone, " but some-
times used by masters to servants,
parents to children, etc. " ; also occa-
sionally to women: Antony atid Cleo-
patra, V. ii. 229.
32. with] i.e. on. See v. v. 13, and
Richard II. iii. ii. 175: "I live with
bread like you " ; and 1 Henry IV. in,
ii. 162 : " I had rather live with cheese
and garlic."
34. lime] bird lime. Compare Tem-
pest, IV. i. 246 : " Monster, come, put
some lime upon your fingers."
35. gin] snare. Compare Twelfth
108 MACBETH [act ^.
Son. Why should I, mother ? Poor birds they are not set for.
My father is not dead, for all your saying.
L. Macd, Yes, he is dead : how wilt thou do for a father?
Son. Nay, how will you do for a husband ?
L. Macd. Why, I can buy me twenty at any market. 40
Son. Then you '11 buy 'em to sell again.
L. Macd. Thou speak'st with all thy wit ;
And yet, i' faith, with wit enough for thee.
Son. Was my father a traitor, mother?
L. Macd. Ay, that he was. 45
Son. What is a traitor?
L. Macd. Why, one that swears and lies.
Son. And be all traitors that do so ?
L . Macd. Every one that does so is a traitor, and mustbe
hanged. 5°
Son. And must they all be hanged that swear and lie?
L. Macd. Every one.
Son. Who must hang them ?
L. Macd. Why, the honest men.
Son. Then the liars and swearers are fools ; for there are 55
liars and swearers enough to beat the honest men,
and hang up them.
L. Macd. Now God help thee, poor monkey !
But how wilt thou do for a father?
Son. If he were dead, you 'd weep for him : if you would 60
not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have
a new father.
L. Macd. Poor prattler, how thou talk'st !
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. Bless you, fair dame ! I am not to you known,
Though in your state of honour I am perfect. 65
I doubt, some danger does approach you nearly :
36. One line Pope, two lines Ff. 38. One line Rowe, two lines Ff. 49,
50. Prose Pope, two lines Ff. 58, 59. As Ff ; prose Pope.
Night, u. V. g2 : " Now is the woodcock 65. state . . . perfect] pedectly nc-
near the gin." quainted with your rank. Compare
36. Poor . . . for] " In life traps are Richard III. iii. vii. 120 : " Your state
not set for the poor but for the rich " of fortune, and your due of birth."
(Clar. Edd.). '• Poor " is emphatic, and 66. I doubt] i.e. I fear; a not un-
«' birds " is probably the object of " set common usage. Compare Richard II.
for"; "they" referring to the "net," in. iv. 69 : —
" lime," etc. " Depress'd he is already, and de-
57. hang up them] Compare Romeo posed
and ytiliet, iv. ii. 41 : " Go thou to 'Tis doubt he will be."
Juliet, help to deck up her." And Bacon, Essays, xxii. Of Cunning
sc. II.] MACBETH 109
If you will take a homely man's advice,
Be not found here; hence, with your little ones.
To fright you thus, methinks, I am too savage ;
To do worse to you were fell cruelty, 70
Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you !
I dare abide no longer. [Exit,
L. Macd. Whither should I fly ?
I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthly world, where, to do harm
Is often laudable; to do good, sometime, 75
Accounted dangerous folly : why then, alas !
Do I put up that womanly defence.
To say, I have done no harm ? What are these faces ?
Enter Murderers.
Mur. Where is your husband ?
L. Macd. I hope, in no place so unsanctified, 80
Where such as thou may'st find him,
Mur. He 's a traitor.
Son. Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain !
Mur. What, you t%g !
[Stabbing him.
Young fry of treachery !
Son. He has kill'd me, mother ; run away, I pray you ! [Dies.
[Exit Lady Macduff, crying " Murder ! " and pursued
by the Murderers.
70. worse to jom] less, to you Hanmer ; less to you, Capell. 72. Whither]
Ff 3, 4 ; Whether Ff i, 2. 78. One line Rowe, two lines Ff. / have] F i ;
I'd Theobald ; I've Dyce (ed. 2). 82. shag-hair'd] Singer (ed. 2) (Steevens
conj.) ; shagge-ear'd Ff i, 2 ; shag-ear^d F 3, Camb. Edd.
(ed. Singer, 1868, p, 81) : " If a man 72, whither] See iii. vi. 29 ante.
would crosse a Businesse, that he doubts 82. shag-hair'd] This, the certain con-
some other would handsomely and jecture of Steevens, has been rightly
effectually move," etc, ; ib. xxviii. Of adopted by almost all editors. The same
Expense (do, p, 103) " but doubting to epithet occurs in 2 Henry VI. in, i. 367 :
bring themselves into melancholy"; " Like a 5/ing--AajVrf crafty kern," The
and ib. Of Vicissitude of things (do. p. spelling heare is very frequent both in
203) : " You may doubt the springing the Folio and the old dramatists, e.g.
up a. New Sect." Shakespeare rhymes "heares" with
70, do worse] i.e. to enter into greater " tears " in Comedy of Errors, in, ii. 46,
details of your danger, and so prevent 48, etc.
your escape. This seems the best ex- 82. egg .'] Compare Love's Labour 's
planation, having regard to " I dare Lost, v. i. 78 : " thou pigeon-egg of
abide no longer," line 72. discretion,"
110 MACBETH [act iv.
SCENE III. — England. A room in the King's palace.
Enter Malcolm and Macduff.
Mai. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there
Weep our sad bosoms empty.
Macd. Let us rather
Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men
Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom. Each new morn,
New widows howl, new orphans cry ; new sorrows 5
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out
Like syllable of dolour.
Mai. What I believe, I '11 wail ;
What know, believe ; and what I can redress,
As I shall find the time to friend, I will. 10
What you have spoke, it may be so, perchance.
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,
Was once thought honest : you have lov'd him well ;
He hath not touch'd you yet. I am young ; but something
You may deserve of him through me, and wisdom i 5
4. down-faWn'] Johnson ; downfall F i, 2, 3. 15. deservel Theobald (Warbur-
ton); discerneF J, 2. q/"AJm] cm. Steevens conj. and wisdom] and ivisedome
F i; His wisdom Hanmer; and wisdom is it Steevens conj. ; and 'tis wisdom
Collier conj.; and wisdom bids Staunton conj.; and wisdom 'twere Keightley.
Scene ///.] This scene is almost 10. As . . . to fr'.end^ i.e. for friend,
literally and very skilfully versified from to 6iffriend me. Compare /I // '5 Well
Holinshed. Compare the latter's that Ends Well, v. iii. 182 : —
account of Malcolm's proof of Mac- " Sir, for my thoughts, you have
duffs loyalty (p. 175a): "Though them ilWo/n^«(/
Malcolme was verie forowfull for the Till your deeds gain them."
oppreffion of his countriemen the Scots And jfulitis Casar, in. i. 143 : " I know
in maner as Makduffe had declared; that we shall have him well /o/n<;wrf" ;
yet doubting whether he were come as and Spenser, Faerie Queene, i. i. 28 :
one that meant vnfeinedlie as he fpake, " So forward on his way with God to
or elfe a'? sent from Makbeth to betraie friend."
him, he thought to haue some further i4-i7' He hath . . . angry god]
trial], and therevpon diffembling his I am convinced that the arrangement
mind at the firft, he answered as follow- of these lines in the above text (which
eth." is the arrangement of the Folio) does not
3. mortal] deadly. So King John, show the true text as it left Shake-
in. i. 259 : — speare's hand. The arrangement should
" thou mayst hold ... be : —
A chafed lion by the mortal paw." " He hath not touch'd you yet. I
3. good] brave. So Troilus and Cres- am young ; but
sida, IV. v. 198: "he was a soldier Something you may deserve of him
good." through me,
4. birthdom] probably means " land And wisdom ['tis] to offer up a
of our birth," "fatherland." For the weak
termination, compare masterrfow, I. V. 68. Poor innocent lamb to appease an
6. that] so that. Compare i. ii. 61, angry god."
I. vii. 8. The only change from the Folio is the
sc. iii.j MACBETH ^ HI
To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb,
To appease an angry god.
Macd. I am not treacherous.
Mai. But Macbeth is.
A good and virtuous nature may recoil,
In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your pardon : 20
That which you are my thoughts cannot transpose '
Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell :
Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,
Yet grace must still look so.
Macd. I have lost my hopes.
Mai. Perchance even there where I did find my doubts. 25
Why in that rawness left you wife and child
(Those precious motives, those strong knots of love),
Without leave-taking? — I pray you,
Let not my jealousies be your dishonours,
But mine own safeties : you may be rightly just, ^O
Whatever I shall think.
Macd. Bleed, bleed, poor country '
Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure.
For goodness dare not check thee ! wear thou thy
wrongs ;
24. still look'\ look still Theobald (ed. 2). 25. One line Rowe, two lines Ff.
necessary addition of 'tis in line 16. 25. doubts] i.e. in regard to Macduff's
The words you and / in line 14, and conduct in leaving his wife and children.
me in line 15 should be strongly em- See next line,
phasised to bring out the sense. 26. rawness] haste. Compare Henry
19. recoil] gi\ e way, recede, degener- V. iv. i. 147 : " children rawly left."
ate (not in the usual sense of rebound- 27. motives] of persons. Compare
ing from pressure, etc.). Compare v. All 's Well that Ends Well, iv. iv.
ii. 23 ; and Cymbcline, i. vi. 128 : — 20 : —
" Or she that bore you was no queen, *' As it hath fated her to be my
and you motive
Recoil from your great stock." And helper to a husband."
The sense is that Macduff's virtue Timon of Athens, v. iv. 2y : —
might give way under the pressure of a " Nor are they living
royal command from Macbeth. Who were the motives that you
20. imperial] royal, as in Midsummer first went out."
Night's Dream, n.i. 162 : '' the imperial 28. Without . . . you] This line is
votaress." faulty from the omission of some words.
21. transpose] change. Compare Perhaps having regard to " think " in
Midsummer Night's Dream, i. i. 233: line 31, the following should be supplied
" Love can transpose to form and dig- in the text and are probably as sound
nity." as any, viz. : " In your thoughts " I
23. would]shou\d. Compare I. vii. 34. pray you, or, I pray you "in your
24. hopes] i.e. of a successful enter- thoughts " ; but of course absolute ac-
prise agamst Macbeth, inasmuch as he curacy or certainty in such correction
is not received with full confidence by is impossible.
Malcolm.
112 MACBETH [act iv.
The title is affeer'd ! — Fare thee well, lord :
I would not be the villain that thou think'st 35
For the whole space that 's in the tyrant's grasp,
And the rich East to boot.
Mai. Be not offended :
I speak not as in absolute fear of you.
I think our countrj' sinks beneath the yoke ;
It weeps, it bleeds ; and each new day a gash 40
Is added to her wounds : I think, withal,
There would be hands uplifted in my right ;
And here, from gracious England, have I offer
Of goodly thousands : but, for all this.
When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head, 45
Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country
Shall have more vices than it had before,
More suffer, and more sundry ways than ever,
By him that shall succeed.
Macd. What should he be ?
Mai. It is myself I mean ; in whom I know 50
All the particulars of vice so grafted.
That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth
Will seem as pure as snow ; and the poor state
Esteem him as a lamb, being compar'd
With my confineless harms.
Macd. Not in the legions 55
34. The\ Thy Malone. affeer^d] Hanmer ; affear'd F i ; assured or affirmed
S. Walker conj. 44. but] but yet Hanmer.
34. The title is affeer'd .'] A legal rendered certain by the affeerers of the
term, with the meaning of assured, cer- Court-Leets, so the basis of Macbeth's
tified. See Cowell's Interpreter, s.v. : tyranny is well established and its
"/l_^.ee>'<;^5 may probably be derived from title to rule is now assured. Having
the Fr. affier, i.e., affirmare, confirmare, regard to the word title, a good case,
and signifies in the common law such however, might be made out for
as are appointed in Court-Leets, upon Walker's conjecture, assured.
oath, to set the fines on such as have 42. my right] " mon droit."
committed faults arbitrarily punishable, 43. gracious England] Edward the
and have no express penalty appointed Confessor. Repeated in 190 post.
by the statute." And Ritson says: Compare i^tw^ yo/jw, 11. i. 52 : "What
" To affeer is to assess, or reduce to England says, say briefly, gentle lord."
certainty. All amerciaments are by The title in lieu of the name of sove-
Magna Charta to be affeer ed by lawful reigns is very frequent in the dramatists,
men, sworn to be impartial. This is 44. Of goodly . . . this] A faulty
the ordinary practice of a Court-Leet, line. The precise figure given in line
with which Shakespeare seems to have igi post, " ten thousand men," makes it
been intimately acquainted, and where practically certain that the word " ten "
he might occasionally have acted as an has been accidentally left out here.
affeerer." If the text be sound, Shake- Where does the " pause " come in ?
speare then must mean that just as 55. confftieless] houndltss. Not used
fines or penalties arc assessed or elsewhere by Shakespeare.
SC. III.]
MACBETH
113
Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd Ct — ~
In evils, to top Macbeth.
Mai. I grant him bloody,
Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,
Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin
That has a name ; but there 's no bottom, none, 60
In my voluptuousness : your wives, your daughters,
Your matrons, and your maids, could not fill up
The cistern of my lust ; and my desire
All continent impediments would o'erbear,
That did oppose my will : better Macbeth, 65
Than such a one to reign.
Macd. Boundless intemperance
In nature is a tyranny ; it hath been
The untimely emptying of the happy throne,
And fall of many kings. But fear not yet
To take upon you what is yours : you may 70
Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty,
And yet seem cold, the time you may so hoodwink,
66. a] Capell ; an Ff
bald ; cold. Ff.
Boundless] om. Steevens conj. 72. cold,] Theo-
56, 57. devil . . . evils] Monosyl-
labic, as frequently in the plays.
58. Luxurious] In the now obsolete
sense of '■ lascivious," " lustful," its
only sense in Shakespeare. See Min-
sheu, Span. Dial. (1599), 53 : " great
hee-goats, which is a most luxurious
beast."
59. Sudden] hasty, passionate, violent.
Very frequent in the plays. See especi-
ally As You Like It, 11. vii. 151 :
•'Jealous in honour, sudden and quick
in quarrel."
64. continent] restraining. Compare
Love's Labour 's Lost, i. i. 262 : " edict
and continent canon " ; and Midsummer
Night^s Dream, n. i. 92 (as a subst.) :
•' That they have overborne their con-
tinents."
66. such a one] Compare the form of
the indefinite article in line loi post.
" One " was of course pronounced
" un " ; and therefore the text here and
in line loi post should read " such an
one."
66, 67. Boundless intemperance . . .
tyranny] Meaning probably, intemper-
ance in nature, i.e. want of control over
the natural appetites constitutes a
tyranny or usurpation ; or we may con-
8
strue thus, intemperance is a tyranny
in its nature, i.e. is of the nature of a
tyranny. But there is no great distinc-
tion, if any, in point of sense, which is
clear enough.
71. Convey] " Make thyfelfe king, and
I shall conveie the matter so wiselie
that thou fhalt be fo fatisfied at thy
pleafure in fuch fecret wife, that no
man fhall be aware thereof" (Holin-
shed. Hist, Scot. 175a). Inthesenseof
"arrange, manage secretly." Compare
" hoodwink," line y?. ; Palsgrave, Les-
clarcisscment, 498, has " He conveyeth
his matars as wisely as any man that I
knowe." Steevens quotes Lyly, Mother
Bombie, ii. i : " Two may, as they say,
keep counsel if one be away, but to
co7tvey knavery, two are too few and
four too many." Staunton quotes The
Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven (1599) :
" But verily, verily, though the adulterer
do never so closely and cunningly con-
vey his sin under a canopy, yet," etc.
" Convey " and " Conveyers " are well-
known euphemisms in the dramatists
for theft and thieves. See e.g. Merry
Wives of Windsor, i. iii. 32 : " Convey
the wise it call " ; and Richard IL iv.
i. 317 : " Conveyers are you all."
114
MACBETH
[act IV.
We have willing dames enough ; there cannot be
That vulture in you, to devour so many
As will to greatness dedicate themselves, 75
Finding it so inclin'd.
Mai. With this, there grows
In my most ill-compos'd affection such
A stanchless avarice, that, were I king,
I should cut off the nobles for their lands ;
Desire his jewels, and this other's house : 8o
And my more-having would be as a sauce
To make me hunger more ; that I should forge
Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal,
Destroying them for wealth.
Macd. This avarice
Sticks deeper, grows with more pernicious root 85
Than summer-seeming lust ; and it hath been
The sword of our slain kings : yet do not fear;
Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will,
85. Sttcks\ Sirikes Hanmer (Theobald conj.). 86. sumtner-seeming] Ff;
summer-teemittg Theobald (Warburton) ; summer-seeding Steevens (1785), Heath
conj. ; summer-seammg Staunton conj.
82, 83. forge quarrels] Rushton, in
his Shakespeare Illustrated by the Lex
Scripta (1870), pp. 86-93, quoting the
statute Henry IV. cap. vii., " Item,
pur ceo qe les arrousmy ths font plusours
testes de sates & quarelx defectif," etc.
(Item, because the arrow-smiths do make
many faulty heads of arrows and quarels
defective), and also referring to " our
warranted quarrel," 137 post, thinks,
and in my opinion rightly, that Malcolm
may here use the word in a double
sense, because the verbs " forge " and
"warrant" might be applied to the
quarrels mentioned in this statute as
well as to the word in the general legal
acceptation (quoting the statute i
Richard II. cap. iv.).
85. Sticks] There is much ingenuity
in Theobald's Strikes ; but change is
unnecessary. We have the word in the
same sense in iii. i. 49 a7ite ; " Our
fears in Banquo stick deep " ; and
Measure for Measure, v. i. 280: " And
so deep sticks it [such sorrow] in my
penitent heart."
86. summer-seeming] "summer-teem-
ing," the conjecture of Theobald, is
undoubtedly sound. His quaint note
may be quoted : " The Passion, which
lasts no longer than the Heat of Life,
and which goes off in the Winter of
age. Summer is the season in which
Weeds get Strength, grow rank, and
dilate themselves." The phrase seems
to be analogous to " the summer-swell-
ing flower" of Two Gentlemen of
Verona, 11. iv. 162. The Clar. Edd.
retain the Folio text summer-seeming,
and explain as " befitting or looking like
summer"; and Craig as "resembling
in its shortness a summer " ; but these
have very little force, as little as the
quotation from Donne's Lovers Al-
chymy : —
" So, lovers dreame a rich and long
delight,
But vet a winter-seeming summer's
night " ;
where the apposite force of " - seem-
ing" is plain enough. It is not so
here.
87. slain ki7igs] So Holinshed, 175a:
" for auarice is the root of all mifchiefe,
and for that crime the moft part of our
kings haue been flaine and brought to
their final end."
88. foisons] plenty, abundance. The
plural form is unusual. See The Tem-
pest, IV. i. no : " foison plenty." Halli-
sc. Ill] MACBETH 115
Of your mere own. All these are portable,
With other graces weigh'd. 90
MaL But I have none : the king-becoming graces, ^r-^~
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness,
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them ; but abound 95
In the division of each several crime,
Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Uproar the universal peace, confound
All unity on earth.
Macd. O Scotland, Scotland ! 1 00
Mai. If such a one be fit to govern, speak :
I am as I have spoken.
Macd. Fit to govern !
No, not to live. — O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, 105
Since that the _truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accurs'd.
And does blaspheme his breed ? Thy royal father
Was a most sainted king : the queen, that bore thee,
Oft'ner upon her knees than on her feet, no
Died every day she liv'd. Fare thee well !
98. Pour\ Sow'y Hanmer. hell] hate Hanmer. iii. liv^d.] Ff; lived.
Capell.
well, Diet., refers to a provincial (Suf- Diet.], particularly in ecclesiastical
folk) meaning of " the natural juice or matters. Compare Gower, Con/ess.
moisture of the grass or other herbs." (1390), i. 259 : —
93. perseverance] With the accent on " This pope . . .
the second syllable ; and so in Troilus Hath sent the bulle of his sentence
ajid Cressida, in. iii. 150. So, pers^ver. With cursinge and ejiterdite."
frequently in the plays; and generally And North's Plutarch (ed. 1676), 961
in Elizabethan English. (quoted by the Oxford Diet.) : " So were
95. relish] Compare Hamlet, in. iii. Brutus and Cassius, and all their friends
92; — condemned, with interdiction of water
'* Some act and fire." Of course Shakespeare here
That hath no relish of salvation uses the expression in figurative sense.
in 't." 108. blaspheme] In the original sense
98. milk of concord] Compare i. v. 18 of " slander," " defame." Compare
ante. Bacon's Advancement of Learning,
99. Uproai'] Not used elsewhere as a Book i. ii. 9 : " And as to the judge-
verb by Shakespeare. ment of Cato the Censor, he was well
101. such a one] Compare the form in punished for his blasphemy against learn-
line 66 ante : " such an one." ing."
107. interdiction . . . accurs'd] An in. Fare thee well t] Unless we are
interdiction or interdict was an authori- to accentuate the termination of lived
tative or peremptory prohibition [Oxford (which sounds awkward, not to say
116 MACBETH [act iv.
These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself
Have banish'd me from Scotland. — O my breast,
Thy hope ends here !
Mai. Macduff, this noble passion,
Child of integrity, hath from my soul 1 1 5
Wip'd the black scruples, reconcil'd my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
Into his power, and modest wisdom plucks me
F'rom over-credulous haste: but God above 120
Deal between thee and me ! for even now
I put myself to thy direction, and
Unspeak mine own detraction ; here abjure
The taints and blames I laid upon myself,
For strangers to my nature. I am yet 125
T^Unknown to woman ; never was forsworn ;
.>^carcely have coveted what was mine own ;
At no time broke my faith : would not betray
The devil to his fellow ; and delight
^ No less in truth, than life: my first false speaking 130
Was this upon myself. What I am truly,
Is thine, and my poor country's, to command :
Whither, indeed, before thy here-approach.
Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men,
134. Stwarti] Theobald ; Seyward'^i.
unusual — Shakespeare, I believe, once so 118. trains\ stratagems, artifices,
accentuates it, Tiji. in As You Like It, plots, devices. Cotgrave, Dtc^, defines:
II. iii. 72, " Here lived I "), this line " Traine : f. . . . a plot, practife, con-
must be regarded as faulty in metre; fpiracie, deui/e." Comipa.xel Henry JV.
and having regard to the " O " in lines v. ii. 21: "we did train him on." In
100, 103, 113, perhaps it is reasonable to hunting and hawking the term was
conjecture that the Folio printers may used for a bait trailed or drawn along
have inadvertently left it out here. But the ground to entice an animal ; or for
I prefer to think that the missing word is a lure of some kind to reclaim a hawk.
Then, owing to its occurrence immedi- Baynes, Shakespeare Studies, i8g6,
ately above, in line no. (The Folio of p. 312, quotes TurberviJe [Booke of
course prints then for than.) It is //wn/tM^, Oxford reprint, 1907]: " When
amazing to read Walker's note {Versi- a huntsman would hunt a wolfe, he
fication, p. 87), that "fare" is "to be must trayne them by these means . . .
pronounced as a dissyllable." and more there let them lay down their traynes.
amazing still to find that Dyce agreed And when the wolves go out in the
with him — if we did not know that Dyce night to prey and to feede, they will
"something too much" relied on crosse upon the <ra_)'H<; and follow it."
Walker's judgment. On investigating 123. mine own detraction'] i.e. my
the score or so of passages in the plays in (previous) detraction of myself,
which this phrase occurs, it will be found 125. For sirang-^rs] as being strangers,
that it is nfz)«>' more than a monosyllable. 133. here-approcuh] for a similar ad-
113. Have] This should be Hath as verbal compound, see here-remain, 148
the Folio has it. The change to post.
modern syntax is quite unjustifiable. 134. Siward] The son of Beorn, Earl
SC. III.]
MACBETH
117
Already at a point, was setting forth. 1 3 5
Now we '11 together, and the chance of goodness
Be like our warranted quarrel. Why are you silent ?
Macd. Such welcome and unwelcome things at once,
'T is hard to reconcile.
Enter a Doctor.
Mai. Well ; more anon. — Comes the king forth, I pray
you? 140
135. Already'\ Ff ; All ready Rowe. 136. the chance of goodness] our
chance, in goodness Hanmer ; the chance, O goodness, Johnson conj. 137. Be
like] Betide Bailey conj. 140. One line Rowe, two lines Ff.
of Northumberland. He assisted King
Edward the Confessor in suppressing
the rebellion of Earl Godwin and his
sons in 1053. The Clar. Edd. say : " It
is remarkable that Shakespeare, who
seems to have had no other guide than
Holinshed, on this point deserts him,
for in V. ii. 2 he calls Siward Malcolm's
uncle." This however was not desertion
of Holinshed nor yet mere inadvertence
on Shakespeare's part. See the note
on V. ii. 2 post.
135. at a/o»Mf]in readiness, prepared,
in agreement. Florio, Worlde of
Wordes, 1611, has " Punto, Essere in
punto, to be in a readinesse, to be at a
point." Shakespeare probably was
mindful of the passage in Holinshed,
170a, of Duncan and Sweno: "At
length, when they were fallen at a
poynt for rendering up the holde," etc.
The Clar. Edd. refer to Matthew's
translation of Isa. xxviii. 15 (1537) '■
'*Tush, death and we are at a poynt,
and as for hell, we have made a con-
dycion with it " ; and they also quote
Foxe's Acts and Monuments, ed. 1570,
p. 2092 : " The Register there siityng
by, beying weery, belyke, of tarying or
els perceauyng the consunt Martyrs to
heat a point, called vpon the chauncelour
in hast to rid them out of the way, and
to make an end." So Hamlet, i. ii.
200 : " armed at point."
136, 137. the chance . . . quarrel]
The true reading here is, in my opinion,
•' the grace of Goodness Betide . . .
quarrel ! " i.e. may the grace of God be
our hap (or attend us), in our justified
quarrel with Macbeth I (and render it
successful). Compare 2 Henry VI. 11. i.
84 : " God's goodness hath been great to
thee " ; and many other like passages,
and the formula " by the grace of God,"
appended to the formal statement of the
title of sovereigns — a very appropriate
exclamation in the mouth of Malcolm.
See note on iv. i. 121 ante. Compare
also the very similar idea in Richard II.
I. ii. 7 : " Put we our quarrel to the will
of heaven." The pious nature of Mal-
colm is clearly indicated here, exactly
as it is in lines 120 and 162 of this
scene : " God above deal between thee
and me ! " and " Good God, betimes
remove," etc., and in v. vii. 102 post,
where he speaks of the "grace of
Grace." Compare also iii. vi. 32
ante, "with Him above to ratify tlie
work," the pious ejaculation of" another
Lord" in conversation with Lennox.
I am unable to find any reason or sense
in the Folio reading: —
*' the chance of goodneffe
Be like our warranted Quarrell."
Warburton thus seeks to explain it :
" May the lot Providence has decreed
for us be answerable to the justice of our
quarrel." Johnson (who significantly
remarks, " If there be not some more
important error in the passage") is
inclined to believe that Shakespeare
wrote "and the chance, O goodness. Be
like," etc. According to the Clar. Edd.
the meaning seems to be : " May the
chance of success be as certain as the
justice of our quarrel. The sense of the
word ' goodness ' is limited by the pre-
ceding ' chance '. Without this, ' good-
ness ' by itself could not have this mean-
ing." But this is an obsolete and very
rare use of the word, and only found in
Coverdale. See the Oxford Diet. The
various conjectures in the critical notes
are equally unhappy attempts to bolster
up the obscurity of a corrupt text, with
the exception of Betide for Be like, in
which I have been anticipated by Bailey
in his Received Text of Shakespeare,i862.
140-159. Well . . . full of grace]
118 MACBETH [act iv.
Doct. Ay, Sir ; there are a crew of wretched souls,
That stay his cure : their malady convinces
The great assay of art ; but at his touch,
Such sanctity hath Heaven given his hand.
They presently amend.
Mai. I thank you, doctor. 145
'lExit Doctor.
Macd. What 's the disease he means ?
Mai. 'T is call'd the evil :
A most miraculous work in this good king,
Which often, since my here-remain in England,
I have seen him do. How he solicits Heaven,
Himself best knows ; but strangely-visited people, 150
All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye.
The mere despair of surgery, he cures ;
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks.
Put on with holy prayers : and 't is spoken,
To the succeeding royalty he leaves 155
The healing benediction. With this strange virtue.
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy ;
And sundry blessings hang about his throne.
That speak him full of grace.
Enter ROSSE.
Macd. I See, who comes here.
Mai. My countryman; but yet I know him not. 160
Macd. My ever-gentle cousin, welcome hither.
Mai. I know him now. Good God, betimes remove
The means that make us strangers !
Rosse. Sir, amen.
There is no valid reason for supposing 148. here-remain] Compare " here-
that this passage, which was doubtless approach," 133 ante.
inserted by Shakespeare in compliment 149. so/ta^s] In the sense of "prevails
to King James, is an interpolation. See by entreaty " — almost the original force
the question discussed in the Introduc- of the Latin. King James, in order not
tion, and Holinshed, bk. 8, Hist. Eng. to be thought superstitious in the matter
195a: "As hath beene thought he was of healing the '■ e/il," in 1603 ascribed
infpired with the gift of prophefie and the effect of his "touch" to prayer.
also to haue had the gift of healing (See Gardiner's History of England, i.
infirmities and difeafes. Hevfedtohelp 152.) This is another factor in con-
thofe that were vexed with the difeafe, firming the date o{ Macbeth.
commonlie called the kings euill, and 152. mere'] Compare 89 ante.
left that uertue as it were a portion of 153. stamp] stamped coin : an " an-
inheritance vnto his fuccellors the kings gel ," worth about ten shillings. Com-
of this realme." pare Winters Tale, iv. iv. 747: "we
142. convinces] conquers, overpowers, pay them for it with stamped coin."
143- great assay of art] the greatest There is no warrant in Holinshed's
effort of medical skill. narrative for this gift of coin. Seethe
146. <A< *z;»/] the king's evil — scrofula. Introduction,
III.]
MACBETH
119
Macd. Stands Scotland where it did ?
Rosse. Alas, poor country !
Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot 165
Be call'd our mother, but our grave ; where nothing,
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile ;
Where sighs, and groans, and shrieks that rent the air
Are made, not mark'd ; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy : the dead man's knell 1 70
Is there scarce ask'd for who ; and good men's lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps,
Dying or ere they sicken.
Macd. O relation,
Too nice, and yet too true !
Mai. What is the newest grief?
Rosse. That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker; 175
Each minute teems a new one.
Macd. How does my wife ?
Rosse. Why, well.
Macd. And all my children ?
Rosse. Well too.
Macd. The tyrant has not batter'd at their peace ?
Rosse. No ; they were well at peace, when I did leave them. 1 80
168. rent] Ff; rend Rowe. 173, 174. O . . . true!] As Theobald; one
line Ff. 174. Too . . . true !] Too nice, yet true ! Steevens conj.
167. once] ever, at any time. Com-
pare Antony and Cleopatra, v. ii. 50:
" If idle talk will once be necessary."
170. A modern ecstasy] i.e. an every-
day ordinary or commonplace emotion.
Compare Romeo and Juliet, in. ii. 120:
''modern lamentation"; All's Well
that Ends Well, ii. iii. 2 : "to make
morf^nj and familiar things supernatural
and causeless " ; As You Like It, ii,
vii. 156: "modern instances," etc.
Dyce, Glossary, quotes Dante's Purga-
torio, xvi. 42 : " Per modo tutto fuor
del modem' uso." Shakespeare uses
" ecstasy " generally for any violent
mental emotion, the state of being beside
oneself from fear, passion, etc. See iii.
ii. 22 ante ; Hamlet, iii. iv. 138 ; Othello,
IV. i. 80 ; and Marlowe, Jew of Malta,
I. ii. 217 : " Our words will but increase
his ecstasy."
172. flowers] There may be a refer-
ence to the sprigs of heather, etc., in the
Scottish bonnet.
174. nice] With the meaning perhaps
of " precise in detail," or it may mean
fastidious, elaborate; referring to the
rhetorical and affected mannerisms
of Ross's speech. Compare Troilus
and Cressida, iv. v. 250 : " As to pre-
nominate in nice conjecture," etc.
176. teems] Also in the active sense
in Henry V. v. ii. 52 : —
" nothing teems
But hateful docks, rough thistles."
178. Well too] Although " children "
in this line might be pronounced and even
spelt as trisyllabic, yet I am strongly
inclined to think that a second " why "
has been left out by the printers before
" Well too." This would accord exactly
with Ross's pardonable disinclination to
inform Macduff of the truth. See An-
tony and Cleopatra, 11. v. 32 : —
" We use
To say, the dead are well."
Craig quotes T. Heywood's Faire Maid
of the West (ed. Pearson, ii. 299) : —
" Why well. . . .
He's well in heaven, for, mistresse,
he is dead."
180. at peace] Compare "sent to
120 MACBETH [act iv.
Macd. Be not a niggard of your speech : how goes it ?
Rosse. When I came hither to transport the tidings,
Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour
Of many worthy fellows that were out ;
Which was to my belief witness'd the rather, 185
For that I saw the tyrant's power afoot.
Now is the time of help. Your eye in Scotland
Would create soldiers, make our women fight,
To doff their dire distresses.
Mai. Be 't their comfort.
We are coming thither. Gracious England hath 190
Lent us good Siward, and ten thousand men ;
An older, and a better soldier, none
That Christendom gives out.
Rosse. 'Would I could answer
This comfort with the like ! But I have words.
That would be howl'd out in the desert air, 195
Where hearing should not latch them.
Macd. What concern they ?
The general cause ? or is it a fee-grief.
Due to some single breast ?
191. Siward'] Theobald ; Seyward Ff. 196. latch] catch Rowe. 196,
197. What . . . cause ?]T\\toha.\A\ What concente they, The gencyall cause, Fi;
What ? concern they The gen'ral cause ? Rowe.
peace," 111. ii. 20 ante; and for a play hare: " As though he would at every
on the double meaning of " made stride betweene his teeth her latch " ;
peace," see Richard II. 111. ii. 127, 8. and also Golding's C^iar, bk. ii. :" they
184. out] i.e. in the field, in rebellion, threw darts at our men, and latchying
The followers of the Pretenders were our darts, threw them again at us.
frequently spoken of as " out " in the Latch, with the meaning of " drop " or
"'15" and '"45"; and Craig notes " moisten," which occurs in Midsummer
that the rebellion of '98 is still popu- Night's Dream, iii. ii. 36, is probably a
larly called in Ireland " the turn out." ditferent word. See the editor's note in
190. Gracious England] See 43 ante. loc. cit. of that play, in the present
193. gives otit] proclaims. series, 1905.
196. latch] An obsolete word, mean- 197. fee-grief] An estate in fee simple
ing " catch." See Palsgrave, Lesclar- is the largest estate in land known to
cissement (1530), 604 : " I latche, I English law, and Shakespeare here
catche a thynge that is throwen to me meant, I think, to convey the two-fold
in my handes, j'e happe.^' Compare idea of boundless grief, i.e. the utmost
Spenser's Shepheards Calender, March, which could be contained in " some
line 94 : — single breast," and of particular owner-
" From bough to bough he lepped ship as opposed to ownership in corn-
light, mon. " Due to " may be construed
And oft the pumies [stones] as " owned by " ; compare Midsummer
latched.'^ Night's Dream, in. ii. 214: —
Compare also Sonnet cxiii. 6. Craig " Like coats in heraldry,
quotes Golding's Ovid's Melam. (1565, Due but to one, and crowned with
bk. i. p. 10 ; ed. Rouse, 1904, 1. 656) one crest."
of the Grewnde [grey hound] and the And the legal metaphor of an estate in
sc. Ill] MACBETH 121
Rosse. No mind that 's honest
But in it shares some woe, though the main part
Pertains to you alone,
Macd. If it be mine, 200
Keep it not from me ; quickly let me have it.
Rosse. Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever,
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound,
That ever yet they heard.
Macd. Humph ! I guess at it.
Rosse. Your castle is surpris'd ; your wife, and babes, 205
Savagely slaughter'd : to relate the manner,
Were, on the quarry of these murder'd deer.
To add the death of you.
Mai. Merciful heaven ! —
What, man ! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows :
Give sorrow words ; the grief, that does not speak, 2 1 o
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break.
Macd. My children too ?
Rosse. Wife, children, servants, all
That could be found.
Macd. And I must be from thence !
My wife kill'd too ?
Rosse. I have said.
Mai. ' Be comforted :
Let 's make us medicines of our great revenge, 215
To cure this deadly grief
Macd. He has no children. — All my pretty ones ?
Did you say, all ?— O hell-kite 1— All ?
212-214. Wife, . . . too?] so Capell, two lines Ff. 218. say, all?'] say
all ? what, all ? Theobald.
land is sustained by the phrase in line Hippolytus, 607 : " Curae leves loquun-
199, *' in it shares some woe." John- tur, ingentes stupent," thus rendered in
son's explanation, " a peculiar sorrow, a Florio's Mo?itaigne, bk. i. ch. ii. : —
grief which hath a single owner," which " Light cares can freely speake,
is very frequently quoted, seems to me Great cares heart rather breake."
somewhat narrow. Compare " a kiss Case refers to Ford's Broken Heart,
in fee-farm," Troilus and Cressida, iii. v. iii. 76 : —
ii. 93, viz. a kiss oi limitless duration ; " They are the silent griefs
the fee-farm being a grant in fee, i.e. Which cut the heart-strings."
for ever, with reservation of a rent. 217. He has no children] The force
203. possess] inform precisely (Dyce). and bearing of this well-known passage
207. quarry] game killed in hunting is fully discussed in note A at the end of
or hawking. the volume. I am of opinion that
210, 211. the grief . . . break] Shakespeare intended " He " to refer to
Steevens quotes Webster's Vittoria Macbeth and not to Malcolm.
Corombona [ed. Dyce, 1857, p. 156]: 218. All] This line is obviously de-
" These are the killing griefs which fective, and there is strong probability
dare not speak"; and also Seneca's that "my children" are the words
122 MACBETH [act iv.
What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam,
At one fell swoop ? 220
Mai. Dispute it like a man,
Macd. I shall do so ;
But I must also feel it as a man :
I cannot but remember such things were,
That were most precious to me. — Did Heaven look on,
And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff! 225
They were all struck for thee. Naught that I am,
Not for their own demerits, but for mine.
Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now ! -
Mai. Be this the whetstone of your sword : let grief
Convert to anger ; blunt not the heart, enrage it. 230
Macd. O ! I could play the woman with mine eyes,
And braggart with my tongue. — But, gentle heavens,
Cut short all intermission ; front to front,
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland, and myself;
Within my sword's length set him ; if he 'scape, 235
Heaven forgive him too !
Mai. This tune goes manly.
236. Heaven] Ff; Then Heaven Pope; O God, or Then God, or May God,
or God, God, Camb. Edd. conj. This tune] Rowe (ed. 2) ; This time Ff.
most likely to have been carelessly left probable. The Act 3 James I. cap. 21,
out by the Folio printers at the end of intituled An Act to Restrain the
the line. abuses of Players, "Fot the preventing
219. dam] Used by the Elizabethans and avoiding of the great abuse of the
of birds as well as of quadrupeds. holy Name of God, in Stage-playes,
226. Naught] Compare Romeo and Enterludes, May-games, Shews, and
Juliet, III. ii. 87: "All forsworn, all such-like,' enacted "That if at any
naught, all dissemblers." time or times after the end of this pre-
230. Convert] turn; here used in- sent Session of Parliament, any person
transitively, as in Richard II. v. i. 66 : or persons do or shall in any Stage-play,
"The love of wicked men converts to Enterlude, Sew [5C. Shew], May-game,
fear"; and ib. v. iii. 64: "Thy over- or Pageant, jestingly or prophanely
flow of good converts to bad." speak, or use the holy Name of God, or
233. intermission] interruption, pause, of Jesus Christ, or of the Holy Ghost,
delay. Compare Merchant of Venice, or of the Trinity, which are not to be
III. ii. 210; — spoken, but with fear and reverence,
"You loved, I loved, for intermission shall forfeit for every such offence by
No more pertains to me, my lord, him or them committed, ten pounds :
than you." The one moiety thereof to the King's
And King Lear, n. iv. 33 : " Deliver'd Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, the
letters spite of intermission.'" other moiety thereof to him or them
236. Heaven] " Probably," the Clar. that will sue for the same in any Court
Edd. remark, " the original MS. had of Record at Westminster, wherein no
'may God,' or 'Then God,' or ' God, Essoin, Protection or Wager of Law
God,' as in v. i. 74, which was changed shall be allowed."
in the actors' copy to Heaven for fear 236. tune] I am inclined to think
of incurring the penalties provided by that the Folio " time " meaning " tune "
the Act of Parliament against profanity is the correct reading. See Massinger's
on the stage." I think this extremely Roman Actor, 11, i. 227 : " The motions
SC. III.]
MACBETH
123
Come, go we to the king : our power is ready ;
Our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth
Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above
Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer
may;
The night is long that never finds the day.
you
240
{Exeunt.
of the spheres are out of time " ; and
Fletcher's False One, i. ii. : " Some few
lines set unto a solemn time." Compare
also the Q readings of Hamlet, iii. i.
166: "Like sweet bells jangled out ot
time."
239, 240. Is ripe . . . you may'\ It
is clear that these lines ought to run,
not as in the text, but as follows : —
Is ripe I for shaking | and the
powers I above | put on
Their instruments. Receive what
cheer you may ;
the Folio printers having misplaced
the phrase " put on," thus making it
commence line 240 instead of end line
239. Lines of very similar rhythm
occur, e.g. iv. i. 153, iv. iii. 137, and
particularly 11. ii. 73 : " Wake Duncan
with thy knocking."
240. Put on their instruments'] i.e. set
us, their instruments, to the work.
Compare "put upon" in Measure for
Measure, 11. i. 280 : " They do you
wrong to put you so oft upon 't."
ACT V
SCENE I. — Dunsinane. A room in the castle.
Enter a Doctor of Physic and a Waiting-Gentlewoman.
Doct. I have two nights watched with you, but can per-
ceive no truth in your report. When was it she
last walked ?
Gent. Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen
her rise from her bed, throw her night-gown upon
her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write
upon it, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return
to bed ; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.
I. iwd\ too F I.
Scene /.] The great " sleep-walking
scene, which appears to be wholly of
Shakespeare's own invention," restores,
in his own masterly fashion, the interest
in Lady Macbeth which has been quies-
cent since her last appearance, viz. in
the banquet scene of Act III. InActiv.
the interest chiefly centres in Macduff
and Malcolm ; this scene refers us to
Lady Macbeth's share in the intensely
dramatic events of Acts a. and in.
4. into the field] Steevens, in a vein
of somewhat captious criticism, re-
marks : " This is one of Shakespeare's
oversights. He forgot that he had shut
up Macbeth in Dunsinane and sur-
rounded him with besiegers. That he
could not go info the field is observed by
himself with splenetic impatience, v. v.
5-7." But surely it was not necessary
for Shakespeare to speak by the card.
Macbeth was not yet "surrounded by
besiegers " ; and in iv. iii. 186 Ross
speaks of having seen "the tyrant's
power afoot," probably to suppress the
rebels " that were out," ib. 184 ; and
Macbeth would not necessarily be be-
leaguered in his fortress until tlie arrival
of the English forces under Siward.
And Holinshed says : " Heere vpon
infued oftentimes sundrie bickerings
and diverse light skirmifhes; for those
that were of Malcolme's side wovld not
jeopard to ioine with their enimies in a
pight [i.e. pitched] field till his comming
out of England to their support. But
after that Makbeth perceiued his enimies
power to increase by such aid as came
to them foorth of [i.e. out of] England
with his adversarie Malcolm, he recoiled
backe into Fife, there purposing to
abide in campe fortified, at the castell of
Dunsinane." {Hist. Scot. 175b, ed. Bos-
well-Stone, p. 41.)
5. night-gown] See 11, ii. 69 ante, and
V. i. 59 post.
6. closet] in the sense of a private
repository of valuables; see the Oxford
Diet., and Julius Casar, in. ii. 134;
King Lear, ni. iii. 11 : "I have lock'd
the letter in my closet."
6. fold it] probably to mark a margin ;
compare Florio's Montaigne, i. 39 : "a
sheete without /oM»m^ or margine."
124
sc. I.] MACBETH 125
Doct. A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once
the benefit of sleep, and do the efifects of watching. lo
In this slumbery agitation, besides her walking and
other actual performances, what, at any time, have
you heard her say ?
GenL That, Sir, which I will not report after her.
Doci. You may, to me ; and 't is most meet you should. 1 5
Gent. Neither to you, nor any one ; having no witness to
confirm my speech.
Enter Lady MACBETH, wt't/i a taper.
Lo you ! here she comes. This is her very guise ; and,
upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her : stand close.
Doct. How came she by that light ? 20
Gent. Why, it stood by her : she has light by her continu-
ally ; 't is her command.
Doct. You see, her eyes are open.
Gent. Ay, but their sense' are shut.
Doct. What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs 25
her hands.
Gent. It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus
washing her hands. I have known her continue in
this a quarter of an hour.
9-10. nature, . . . watching.] nature I . . . watching. Ff ; nature, — . . . watch-
ing I Dyce. 18. Lady Macbeth] Rowe ; Lady, Ff. 24. sense' are] Dyce
(S. Walker conj.) ; sense are Ff ; senses are Keightley; sense is Rowe and many
Edd.
10. watching] i.e. waking. Compare Macbeth has said would amount to
Romeo and Juliet, iv. iv. 8 : — treason if the doctor chose to betray
" You'll be sick to-morrow her confidence."
For this night's watching." 19. close] concealed. So in Julius
The Clar. Edd, compare Holland's Ccesar, 1. iii. 131.
Pliny, xiv. 18 : " It is reported that the 24. are shut] Rowe's emendation
Thasiens doe make two kindes of wine " is " for " are " may be correct, though
ot contrary operations ; the one procur- it is much more probable that "sense"
eth sleepe, the other causeth watching." is a plural form. Liddell compares the
11. slumbery] Halliwell quotes Pals- use of "grasse" in Sidney's Arcadia,
grave's Lesclarcissement, 1530 : " Slom- p. 376 : " Do you not see the grasse how
brye, slepysshe, pesant " ; and Phaer's they excel in colour the emeralds, everie
Virgil (sig. I. 4, ed. 1620) : " Here is the one striving to passe his fellow, and yet
seat of soules, the place of sleepe and they are all kept of an equal height ? "
slumbry night." Compare "horse," 11. iv. 14 and iv. i.
II. agitation] physical activity, not 140, and other inflectionless plural forms
mental. of the kind. Sidney Walker prefers
16, 17. Neither . . . s/e^cA] As Liddell "their sense' are shut," indicating the
very aptly remar'-,s : " The gentle- plural by an apostrophe, as in the above
woman's canny reluctance to shelter text; and he aptly compares Sonnet
herself under the physician's profes- cxii. 10 : —
sional privilege is probably due to " that my adder's 5««s«
Shakspere's knowledge of law . . . her To critic and to flatterer stopped
unsupported statement as to what Lady are."
126
MACBETH
[act v.
Lady M. Yet here 's a spot. 30
Doct. Hark ! she speaks. I will set down what comes
from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more
strongly.
Lady M. Out, damned spot ! out, I say ! — One ; two :
why, then 't is time to do't. — Hell is murky! — Fie, 35
my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? — What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
account? — Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him ?
Doct. Do you mark that ? 40
Lady M. The thane of Fife had a wife : where is she
32. satisfy] fortijie Warburton. 35. mui'ky /JSteevens; murky. Ff. 37,
^8. fear who . . . account.'] Theobald; feare? who . . . accompt : Ff i, 2;
fear ? who . . . account : Ff 3, 4. 39. him ?] Rowe; him. Ff; him ! Knight.
32. satisfy] assure. Warburton's
emendation is plausible, and no doubt
had its origin in "more strongly" ; but
there is no valid reason for change, and
there are quite analogous expressions
in Hiiiry V. iii. ii. 105: "Partly to
satisfy my opinion " ; Twelfth Night,
III. iii. 22: "Let us satisfy our eyes,"
and Measure for Measure, 111. i. 170;
" Do not satisfy your resolution."
Coles's Lat. Diet. (1677) gives : "satis-
fied, certiorf actus."
35. Hell is murky t] The Folio
punctuation, i.e. with the full stop, is
obviously correct here, and not the
punctuation of the text. Bradley, Shake-
spearean Tragedy, p. 334, well remarks :
" The failure of nature in Lady Macbeth
is marked by her fear of darkness ; ' She
has light by her continually ' [line 26].
And in the one phrase of fear that
escapes her lips even in sleep, it is of
the darkness of the place of torment
that she speaks." Steevens thought she
imagined herself here talking to Mac-
beth, who (she supposed) had first said
Hell is murky {i.e. a dismal place to go
to in consequence of such a deed), and
repeats his words in contempt of his
cowardice : and he punctuated with a
note of exclamation accordingly. But,
as Bradley further remarks, " He would
hardly in those days have used an argu-
ment or expressed a fear which could
provoke nothing but contempt,"
37, 38. none . . . account] Rushton
in his Shakespeare a Lawyer (1858), p.
37, says : " Reference seems to be here
made to the ancient and fundamental
principle of the English Constitution
that the King can do no wrong." Case
thinks a more " ancient and fundamental
principle" is that tyrant power cannot
be brought to book ; but Rushton's re-
ference is strongly confirmed by the
conception of the " Prerogative of the
King " in English law, which Blount,
Law Diet. (1670), says "is generally
that Power, Preeminence, or Priviledge,
which the King hath over and above
other persons, and above the ordinary
course of the Common Law, in the
right of His crown — Potest Rex ei, lege
suae dignitatis, condonare si vclit,
etiam mortem promeritam. LL. Edw,
Confess, c. 18. The King's Person is
subject to no man's Sute; His Posses-
sions cannot be taken from Him, by any
violence or wrongful Disseisin ; His
Goodes and Chattels are under no Tri-
bute, Toll, or Custom, nor distrainable ;
with very many other Regal Rights and
Priviledges." See also Cowel, Law
Diet. (ed. 1708), s.v. King : " He is supra
Legem by his absolute Power, Bracton,
lib. i. cap. 8."
41. had a wife] " A woman, she feels
for a murdered woman. That is all —
a touch of nature — from Shakespeare's
profound and pitiful heart" (Wilson,
Dies Bor. p. 664, quoted by Furness). I
cannot agree with Liddell in his idea
that Lady Macbeth's words " seem to
express the joy of a triumph over her
hated rival." No such rivalry is in-
timated or even hinted at in the play,
nor was Macduff a " rival " of Mac-
beth.
sc. I.] MACBETH 127
now? — What, will these hands ne'er be clean? — No
more o' that, my lord, no more o' that : you mar all
with this starting.
Doct. Go to, go to : you have known what you should not. 45
Gent. She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of
that : Heaven knows what she has known.
Lady M. Here's the smell of the blood still: all the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.
Oh! oh! oh! 50
Doct. What a sigh is there ! The heart is sorely charged.
Gent. I would not have such a heart in my bosom, for the
dignity of the whole body.
Doct. Wel( well, well.
Ge7it. 'Pray God it be, Sir. 55
Doct. This disease is beyond my practice : yet I have
known those which have walked in their sleep, who
have died holily in their beds.
Lady M. Wash your hands, put on your night-gown ;
look not so pale. — I tell you yet again, Banquo's 60
buried : he cannot come out on 's grave.
Doct. Even so?
Lady M. To bed, to bed: there's knocking at the gate.
Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What 's
done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed. 65
{Exit.
Doct. Will she go now to bed ?
Gent. Directly.
54. well.^ well, — Capell. 66. \Exii\ Exit Lady Ft.
42. cleati] Steevens quotes Web- Middle English sense of "acknow-
ster's imitation in his Vittoria Coram- ledged." See the Oxford Diet.
bofia [v. i. ed. Dyce, 1857, p. 55]: — 51, sorely] heavily; in the original
" Here's a white hand: sense, as in Richard II. 11. i. 265 : "we
Can blood so soon be wash'd see the wind sit sore upon our sails " ;
out ? " and Henry V. i. ii. 283 : —
44. starting] " Alluding to Macbeth's " and his soul
terror at the banquet" (Steevens). See Shall stand sore charged for the
her speech in iii. iv. 60-68 ; and especi- wasteful vengeance."
ally 63 : " these flaws and starts." 53. dignityl worth, value. Compare
45. Go to] An exclamation of impati- Troilus and Cressida, i. iii. 204 : " a
ence or reproach : perhaps in the nature finger's dignity."
of an " aside," addressed to Lady Mac- 59. night-gown] See 11. ii. 69, and v. i.
beth, as the next line seems to show, 5 ante.
But some refer it as addressed to the 61. ow'sjofhis. Compare A'/n^ L^ar,
Gentlewoman. The phrase is frequent i. iv. 114 : " two on 's daughters" ; also
in Shakespeare. See also the Authorised "on" for "of," i. iii. 84 ante; and
Version, Genesis xi. 3, 4. " on 't" for "of it," i. iii. 42 and iii. i.
45. known] probably here in the 113, 130, etc.
128 MACBETH [act v.
Doct. Foul whisperings are abroad. Unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles : infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. 70
More needs she the divine than the physician. —
God, God, forgive us all ! Look after her ;
Remove from her the means of all annoyance,
And still keep eyes upon her. — So, good night :
My mind she has mated, and amaz'd my sight. 75
I think, but dare not speak.
Gent. Good night, good doctor.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II. — The country near Dunsinane.
Enter, with drum and colours, Menteth, Cathness, ANGUS,
Lenox, and Soldiers.
Ment. The English power is near, led on by Malcolm,
His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff.
72. God, God^^ Theobald ; God, God Ff.
ScEXB n.
2. Si'ward'\ Theobald ; Seyward Ff,
68. Foul whisperings] insinuations, form, amate, occurs in Greene's Orlando
slanders. Compare 2 Corinthians xii. Furioso, 11. i. 488, ed. Churton Collins,
20. 1905, ed. Dyce, 1861, p. 95a: "Hath
73. annoyance] injury, harm to her- love amated him ? " The word is
self; " annoy " and " annoyance " were common in the dramatists; and the
used in a stronger sense than at present, combination mated minde occurs in
Macaulay in his Ivry uses the word in Sidney's Arcadia, ed. 1590, bk. iii.
the older sense : " For cold and stiff and p. 266.
still are they that wrought thy walls j,
annoy." *<^^^^ "•
75. mated] bewildered, confounded. Scene n.] There is no reason to
Cotgrave's Diet, gives the two senses : doubt the authenticity of this scene.
" Mater: To mate, or gine a mate vnto ; It links the action with the last scene
to dead, amate, quell, subdiie, ouercome." of Act iv. and the expression in v. i. 4,
Both senses are played upon in the " Since his Majesty went into the
Comedy of Errors, in. ii. 54: "not mad field." And the force and terseness of
but >na^£'tf " ; and tt. V. i. 282 : " I think the language is altogether Shake-
you all are mated or stark mad." See spearean. The phraseology of medi-
the notes ad loc. cit. to the Errors cine throughout the whole scene is
(in the present series, 1907) ; also quite noteworthy.
Taming of the Shrew, iii. ii. 246: 2. His uncle Siward] Holinshed
" being mad herself she's madly maffrf." speaks of him as the grandfather of
Chaucer has the word in his Knightes Malcolm : " Duncane, hauing two
Tale, 955 : " Whan he saugh him, so sonnes by his wife which was the
pitous and so maat," etc.; Marlowe in daughter of Siward, Earle of Northum-
Tambnrlaine, Parti, i. i. 107: "How berland," 171a. But "nephew" with
now, my lord, what mated and the Elizabethans clearly meant " grand-
amazed ? " ; and Fairfax in his Tasso, son " as well as our " nephew." See
XI. xii. 197: "Stood husht and still B^rti's Alvearie, "A nephew . . . qui
amated and amased." The original ex filio filiave natue est, nepos ex fratre
SC. II.]
MACBETH
129
Revenges burn in them ; for their dear causes
Would, to the bleeding and the grim alarm,
Excite the mortified man.
An^. Near Bimam wood
Shall we well meet them : that way are they coming.
4. bleeding] bleeding, F i.
vel sorore"; and Spenser, Ruines of
Rome (1591), 8 : —
" 01 vertuous nephewes, that pos-
teritie
Striving in power their grand-
fathers to passe " ;
hence Shakespeare may well have
called Siward Malcolm's " uncle."
Compare the generic sense of the word
"cousin."
3. Revenges'] not infrequent in the
later plays in the plural form, whether
meaning the feeling or the act of re-
venge, e.g. in Measure for Measure,
King Lear, Timon of Athens, Corio-
lanus and Cymbeline. Compare for
similar forms the last-mentioned play,
II. V. 24 : " revenges, hers ; Ambitions,
covetings, change of prides," etc.
3. dear causes] the causes which touch
them nearest, viz. the murders perpe-
trated by Macbeth. "Dear" with the
Elizabethans was applied to some in-
timate personal relationship, and not
necessarily implying affection. Com-
pare Hamlet's "would I had met my
dearest foe in heaven," i. ii. 182.
4. bleeding . . . alarm] This would
seem to mean nothing more than grim
and bloody war. (Compare " fierce and
bloody war," King John, i. i. 17.) Per-
haps a kind of vcrrtpov trpirfpov as re-
gards the epithets, the "alarm" or
" alarum " of war representing war it-
self. "Bleeding alarm" seems in no
respect more extravagant than the
" bleeding slaughter " of Richard III.
IV. iv. 209 ; the ^^ bleeding ground" of
King John, 11. i. 304 ; the " bleeding
war " of Richard II. iii. iii. 94 ; or the
"controversy bleeding" of Coriolanus,
n. i. 86.
5. mortified] The exact meaning of
" mortified " in this passage is some-
what difficult to determine. Three
meanings are assigned to it in the Ox-
ford Diet.: (i) Of persons, dead to sin
or the world, having the appetites or
passions in subjection, ascetic, as in
Love's Labour's Lost, 1. i. 28: " Du-
rmi'm is mortijied"; (2) dead, slain (in
the literal sense, which apparently is
now obsolete), as in KnoUes' Hist.
Turks (1603), p. 270: "Having ended
his speech, he shewed unto them the
grisely mortified heads " ; and (3)
deadened, numbed or insensible, as in
Julius Casar, 11. i. 324 : —
"Thou, like an exorcist, hast con-
jured up
My mortified spirit."
And King Lear, 11. iii. 15 : " Strike in
their numb'd and mortified bare arms."
The first meaning provides a sufficiently
forcible sense for the passage ; and this
seems to be the view of Warburton and
Steevens. The latter aptly quotes
Greene's Never too Late (ed. Grosart,
p. 29) : " I perceive in his words the perfit
idea of a mortified man " ; and Chap-
man's Monsieur d'Olive (1606), i. 1. : —
" He like a mortified hermit clad,
Sits weeping."
This view seems also supported by the
use of the word in Romans viii. 13 :
" If ye through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live " ;
and Colossians iii. 5 : " Mortify there-
fore your members which ae upon thee
earth." The Clar. Edd. think the above
sense is hardly forcible enough, and
suggests that it means the dead man, i.e.
mortified in the literal sense. They
quote Erasmus, On the Creed, Eng. tr.
fol. 8ia : " Christ was mortified and
killed in dede as touchynge to His
fleshe; but was quickened in spirit";
and they also suggest that the word
" bleeding " may have been suggested
by the well-known superstition that the
corpse of a murdered man bled afresh
in the presence of the murderer. But
they also admit that this is an extrava-
gant sense. Liddell preserves the Folio
punctuation, viz. the comma after
"bleeding"; and taking the words
with their context, he thinks we have
" the suggestion of revenge being a
burning fever." Taking "cause" in
the sense of "sickness," "disease"
(Oxford Diet. 12. Compare All 's
Well that Ends Well, 11. i. 113 :—
130
MACBETH
[act
Caih. Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother ?
Len. For certain, Sir, he is not. I have a file
Of all the gentry : there is Siward's son.
And many unrough youths, that even now lo
Protest their first of manhood.
Ment. What does the tyrant ?
Cath. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies.
Some say he's mad ; others, that lesser hate him,
Do call it valiant fury : but, for certain,
He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause 1 5
Within the belt of rule.
Ang. Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands ;
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach :
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love : now does he feel his title 20
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
Upon a dwarfish thief
Ment. Who then shall blame
10. unrough] Theobald ; vnruffe F i. ii. tyrant ?} F 4 ; tyrant. Ff i, 2, 3.
" toucht
With that malignant cause."
And 2 Henry IV. iv. i. 53 : —
" We are all diseased . . .
Have brought ourselves into a
burning fever,
And we must bleed for it ") ;
"mortified" in the sense of "be-
numbed" (see Kmg Lear, 11. iii. 15
supra) ; " man " in the sense of " man-
hood " (compare v. vii. 47 : " better
part of man ") — he thus sums up the
sense of the whole passage : " Revenges
burn in them : 1 say burn, because they
suffer from a fever which needs to be
bled, and war's stern alarm must furnish
the furious incitement to rouse from its
lethargy their lifeless manhood, so long
crushed under the heel of the tyrant."
8. Jile] list, roll. See iii. i, 94 ante.
10. U7irough] unbearded; "smooth-
chinn'd, imberbis " (Theobald), who
gives various references. Not used
elsewhere by Shakespeare. We have
unkair^d, however, in King John, v. ii.
123.
10. even now] See i. v. 57.
11. Protest] proclaim. Compare iii.
iv. 105 ante, and Much Ado About
Nothing, V. i. 149 : " Do me right, or I
\/\\\ protest your cowardice."
II. first of manhood] Compare
" near'st of life," in. i. 117.
15, 16. buckle . . . rule] For the
metaphor compare Troilus and Cressida,
II, ii. 30 : —
" And buckle in a waist most fathom-
less
With spans and inches so diminu-
tive
As fears and reasons."
15. distemper d cause] Perhaps, as the
Clar. Edd. think, this means " the dis-
organized party, the disordered body
over which he rules." Compare 2
Henry IV. in. i. 38 : " the body of our
kingdom. ... It is but as a body yet
distemper'd " ; and for the collocation
compare Hamlet, in. ii. 350 : " Good
my lord, what is your cause of distem-
per .''
There is no valid reason for
the change to "course," which is
adopted by Collier, Singer, Dyce, and
Hudson.
18. upbraid] used with accusative of
things as well as of persons. Compare
Troilus and Cressida, ni. ii. 198 : " Up-
braid my falsehood ! "
iB. faith-breach] not used elsewhere
by Shakespeare.
19. ill command] Compare " in an
imperial charge," iv. iii. 20 ante.
SC. III.]
MACBETH
131
His pester'd senses to recoil and start,
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself, for being there?
Cath. Well; march we on, 25
To give obedience where 't is truly ow'd :
Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal ;
And with him pour we, in our country's purge,
Each drop of us.
Len. Or so much as it needs
To dew the sovereign flower, and drown the weeds. 30
Make we our march towards Birnam, {Exeunt, marching.
SCENE III. — Dunsinane. A room in the castle.
Enter MACBETH, Doctor, and Attendants.
Macb. Bring me no more reports ; let them fly all :
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane,
27. medicine'] Med'cine Ff.
Scene in.
2. Birnam] Ff 3, 4 ; Byrnane F i; By mam F 2.
23. pester'd] embarrassed, troubled.
Cotgrave gives : " Empestrer. To pef-
ter, intricate, intangle, trouble, incom-
ber." The metaphor seems to be taken
from hobbling a horse or other beast to
prevent its straying. Compare 1 Henry
IV. I. iii. 50 : " To be so pester'd with
a popinjay " ; Troilus and Cressida, v.
i. 38 : '^pester'd with such water flies ! " ;
and Coriolamis, iv. vi. 7 : " Dissentious
numbers pestering streets " ; where the
word is used in its literal sense of
" crowded," as seen in Cotgrave's " in-
comber."
27. medicine] i.e. Malcolm. This is
probably here used in the ordinary
sense, as "purge" in the next line
would seem to imply, and not in the
sense of doctor or physician, like the
Fr. medicin. Shakespeare twice uses
it as a verb, viz. in Othtllo, in. iii. 332,
and Cymbeline, IV. ii. 243 ; but in all
the other passages (nearly thirty) in
which the word occurs, it can be, and
I believe should be, construed in the
ordinary sense, even though metaphori-
cally used inpassages like the present:
All 's Well that Ends Well,u. i. 75 :—
" I have seen a medicine
That's able to breathe life into a
stone."
And Winter's Tale, iv. iv. 598 : —
" Preserver of my father, now of me,
The medicine of our house."
The Oxford Diet., however, treats the
word in All 's Well that Ends Well
(ut supra) as used in the sense of a
medical practitioner : and it is so used
by other authors. Florio, Worlde of
Wordes (1598), gives " Medico; a phifi-
tion, a leach " : and it is significant that
Minsheu's Spanish Diet. (1599), and
Cotgrave's Fr. Diet. (161 1) have only
" medicine " in the modern sense.
30. dew] bedew. Compare 2 Henry
VI. III. ii. 340 : " That I may dew it
with my mournful tears." There are
many substantives and verbs in Shake-
speare to which the addition of this
intensive be makes scarcely, if any,
difference in meaning.
30. sovereign] " Two ideas," say the
Clar. Edd., " are suggested by this epi-
thet, royal or supreme, and powerfully
remedial, the latter continuing the
metaphor of lines 27-29."
Scene iii.
Scene ///.] In this scene the old
imperious Macbeth nerves himself for
action as if to meet the inevitable end.
I. them] i.e. the thanes. Compare
lines 7 and /^g post.
132
MACBETH
[act v.
I cannot taint with fear. What 's the boy Malcolm ?
Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know
All mortal consequences have pronounc'd me thus : 5
" Fear not, Macbeth ; no man that 's bom of woman
Shall e'er have power upon thee." — Then fly, false thanes,
And mingle with the English epicures :
The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear,
Shall never sag with doubt, nor shake with fear. 10
3. tainf] faint S. Walker conj. 5. consequences have] Var. '21, Camb.
Edd. etc.; Consequences, have Ff; consequents, have Steevens (1793); conse-
quence, have Singer (ed. i). 7. upon] on Steevens (1793). Then fly]
Fly Pope.
3. <at«i] i.e. wither, a rare intransitive
use, as in Twelfth Night, iii. iv. 145.
Liddell quotes Comenius, Jamia lin-
giiarum, 106: "failing of that moisture
It flags, tainteth, and by and by drieth
away."
4. spirits] i.e. the potent " master "
spirits or apparitions of iv. i.
5. consequences] When we find the
plural lorm only in this passage in the
Folio; when we find the singular form
in I. iii. 126 and i. vii. 3 ante, as well as
in seventeen other passages in the plays,
the inference is irresistible that either
" consequence," of course used collect-
ively and comprising in its meaning all
subsequent circumstances, or the plural
form "consequents," is what Shake-
speare wrote. And the rhythm of the
verse imperatively demands it. The
misprint of the final s in the Folio is of
constant occurrence. I find I have been
anticipated in the correction by Singer
(ed. I.) ; but he appears to have returned
to the plural form in succeeding edi-
tions. There is absolutely no necessity
to treat the verse as an alexandrine.
5. me] this is probably the ethic dative
— "in my interest."
8. epicures] who give themselves up
to the pleasures of sense. It is more
than probable that Shakespeare took
this idea from Holinshed (ed. 1587,
pp. 179, 180) : " The Scotifh people before
had no knowledge nor underftanding of
fine fare or riotous furfet ; yet after they
had once tafted the fweet poifoned bait
thereof . . . those fuperfluities (which
came into the realme of Scotland with
the Englipimen) ... (p. 180). For manie
of the people abhorring the riotous
maners and fuperfluous gormandizing
brought in among them by the Englifh-
tnen,\vere willmg inough to receiue this
Donald for their King, trufting (bicause
he had beene brought up in the Isles,
with old cuftomes and maners of their
ancient nation without taft of the Eng-
lifh likerous delicats) they fhould by his
fevere order in gouernement recouer
againe the former temperance of their
old progenitors."
9. sway] Compare Twelfth Night,
II. iv. 32 : " So sways she level in her
husband's heart " ; and 3 Henry VI. 11.
vi. 14.
10. sag] hang down heavily (as op-
pressed by weight), droop : used by
Shakespeare only in this passage.
But he found it in Golding's Ovid, xi.
198, ed. Rouse, 1904 (of Midas's ears) : —
" And fiUd them full of whytish
heares.
And made them down too [i.e. to]
sag.
Nares and Halliwell quote from Nash's
Pierce Pennilesse, vii, 15 : " When Sir
Rowland Russet-Coat, their dad, goes
sagging even day in his round gas-
coynes of white cotton." The word
seems to be still in use in Yorkshire and
the Eastern counties ; and the Clar. Edd.
quote Forby's Vocabulary of East
Anglia: "Sag, v. to fail or give way
from weakness in itself, or overloaded ;
as the bars of a gate, beams, rafters, or
the like. . . . We also use it figuratively.
Of a man who droops in the decline of
life we say: 'he begins to sag.'"
Furness states that it is a word of every-
day use in America among mechanics
and engineers.
bC. III.]
MACBETH
133
Enter a Servant.
The devil damn thee black, thou cream-fac'd loon !
Where gott'st thou that goose look ?
Serv. There is ten thousand —
Macb. Geese, villain ?
Serv. Soldiers, Sir.
Macb. Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear,
Thou lily-liver'd boy. What soldiers, patch ? 15
Death of thy soul ! those linen cheeks of thine
Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face ?
Serv. The English force, so please you.
Macb. Take thy face hence. \Exit Servant.] — Seyton ! — I am
sick at heart,
When I behold — Seyton, I say ! — This push 20
Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now.
12. goose look?] Goose-looke. Ff, 21. cheer] cheere Ff i, 2; chair Dyce
(Percy conj.). disseat] Steevens (Jennens and Capell conj.) ; dis-eate F i ;
disease Ff 2, 3, 4 ; disseize Bailey conj. ; defeat Daniel conj. ; dis-ease Furness.
II. loon] a rogue or worthless rascal ;
still common in Scotland (according to
W. Chambers). This form corresponds
to the Scottish and Northern pronun-
ciation, " lown " (see F 4 supra and
Othello, II. iii. 95) to the Southern.
15. patch] properly, a domestic fool
or clown. It is used also as a term of
contempt. It is perhaps derived from
the Italian pazzo, or from the fool's
wearing a "patched" or parti-coloured
coat. Compare Midsummer Night's
Dream, iii. ii. 9 : "a crew of patches " ;
ib. IV. i. 237: " Man is but a patched
fool " ; and the notes ad loc. cit., in the
present series, 1905. " Pajock," Ham-
let, III. ii. 295, is probably a diminutive
of this word.
20. rAis^Mj/j]i.e. this crisis, or assault
of fortune, attack. Compare iii. iv. 82 :
"Push us from our stools " ; and Julius
CcBsar, V. ii. 5 : " And sudden push
gives them the overthrow."
21. cheer . . . disseat] Reading chair,
as we ought beyond question to read,
the meaning is : this present crisis of
my fortunes will either seat me firmly
for good (" ever ") on the throne or else
unseat me quite. If the essential an-
tithesis is to be preserved, there is no
choice between this reading and that
of the Folio cheere, read with F 2
disease. We owe to Bishop Percy the
very obvious reading chair, which has
been adopted by Dyce, and disseat to
Steevens. The retention of cheer with
disseat, as in the Clarendon edition, the
above text and others, is neither fish nor
flesh. Cheer is misprinted chair in the
Folio in Coriolanus, iv. vii. 52 ; and as
we find " chair " spelt chayere in the
Promptorium Parvulorum, 1440, and
chayre in Palsgrave's Lesclarcissement,
1530, it is quite evident that no reliance
is to be placed on the mere spelling of
the Folio in support of cheer. In fact,
as White remarks, cheere is "a mere
phonographic irregularity of spelling.
Chair is pronounced ' cheer ' even now
by some old-fashioned folk." It is quite
common in the Folio to find " heare "
and"heares" for "hair" and "hairs,"
a proof that the pronunciation of our
" hair " in Elizabethan times must have
been heer, or at any rate something
rather approaching hayre. So that the
"cheere" of the Folio might easily
represent a phonetic spelling of " chair "
or "chayre" or " cheare." Compare
Bacon's rhyme in his translation of the
first Psalm (1625) : —
" Who never gave to wicked reed
A yielding and attentive ear ;
Who never sinner's paths did tread,
Nor sat him down on scorner's
chair."
134
MACBETH
[act v.
I have liv'd long enough : my way of life
Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf;
22. way] May Steevens (1778), (Johnson conj.).
" Chair " in the sense of throne is com-
mon enough both in Shakespeare and
the other dramatists, e.g. see Richard
III. V. iii. 251 : —
A base foul stone made precious by
the foil
Of England's chair, where he is
falsely set."
And Peele's David and Bethsabe (ed.
Dyce, 1861, p. 4786, ed. Bullen, vol. ii.
p. 60, so. X. 1-6) : —
" The man of Israel that hath ruled
as King, . . .
And be deposed from his detested
chair."
It is true that Shakespeare does not
elsewhere use "chair" as a verb, nor
does "disseat" occur in the plays; but
there are endless examples of his coinage
and his powers in that direction ; and
even if that were not so, there are
numerous a7ra| Ktyofxtva in this play.
The word "ever" — Macbeth being
already on the throne — sufficiently dis-
poses of the objection of the Clar. Edd.
that the signification of " chair " would
rather be "to place in a chair" than
" to keep in a chair." If " cheer " is to
stand, then we are free to adopt the
reading dis-ease, i.e. disquiet, render
uneasy; but this combination certainly
gives a weak and ineffective meaning to
the passage.
22. way of life] course of life.
Johnson, in support of his famous emen-
dation "May of life," observes, "As
there is no relation between the ' way
of life' and ' fallen into the sear,' I am
inclined to think that the W is only
an M inverted, and that it was ' my
May of Life ' : I am now passed from
the spring to the autumn of my days.
. . . Shakespeare has May in the same
sense elsewhere." See e.g. Much Ado
About Nothing, v. i, 76: "his May of
youth," etc. Steevens, in support of
the emendation, quotes Sidney's Astro-
phel and Stella, st. 21 : " If now the
May of my years much decline " ;
Beaumont and Fletcher's Spattish
Curate (i. iii. 4) : —
" you met me
With equal ardour in your May of
blood."
And Massinger's Guardian (i. i. 23) : —
" I am in the May of my abilities,
And you in your December."
Mason, Comments, etc. (1785), supports
the Folio reading, citing Massinger's
Roman Actor (i. ii. 35) : " And in my
way of youth," etc.; and Very Woman
(iv. ii. 44) : " In way of youth I did en-
joy one friend." Malone, also in sup-
port of the Folio, considers that Shake-
speare only means that in the ordinary
progress Macbeth had passed from the
spring to the autumn of life, from
youth to the confines of age, and that
nothing is gained by the alteration to
May, He further argues that May,
both in MS. and in print, always is ex-
hibited with a capital letter, and that
it is exceedingly improbable that a com-
positor at the press should use a small
w instead of a capital M. But this
argument has little or no weight in
view of the greater probability that the
compositor printed from dictation — a
very frequent practice of the time — and
of the fact that the converse error, viz.
of " may " for " way " occurs in the Folio
in this play, viz. at 11. i. 57. Johnson's
emendation is supported by Walker and
Collier, and even by the Clar. Edd. ;
though they hesitate to print it m the
text. "The mixture of metaphors,"
they well remark, " is not justified by
quoting, as the commentators do, pas-
sages from Shakespeare and other
authors to prove that 'way of life' is
a mere periphrasis for ' life.' The ob-
jection to it is that it is immediately
followed by another and different
metaphor." If we are to support the
Folio reading, it must be admitted that
the mixture of metaphors is very bold
even for Shake^peare. It is difficult to
see how a " way," i.e. a course or habit
of life, could fall into the sear, the
yellow leaf, i.e. the autumn of life.
Shakespeare, it is certain, is thinking
of two seasons of existence, one glidii g
or " falling " into the other, and not of a
" way," " course," or " method " of exist-
ence falling into a time of life. Like
the Clar. Edd., I hesitate to adopt
" May," not being satisfied that Shake-
speare wrote it. Fortunately, there
can be no question as to his geneal
meaning. It is well illustrated by
sc. Ill] MACBETH 135
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, 25
I must not look to have ; but, in their stead.
Curses, not loud, but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not. * —
Seyton I —
Enter Seyton.
Sey. What is your gracious pleasure .
Macb. What news more ? 30
Sey. All is confirm'd, my lord, which was reported.
Macb. I '11 fight, till from my bones my flesh be hack'd.
Give me my armour.
Sey. 'T is not needed yet.
Macb. I '11 put it on.
Send out moe horses, skir the country round ; 35
Hang those that talk of fear. Give me mine armour. —
How does your patient, doctor ?
Doct. Not so sick, my lord,
As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies.
That keep her from her rest.
Macb. Cure her of that :
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, 40
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow.
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
35. moe\ Ff I, 2; more Ff 3, 4,
such passages as Richard II, in. iv. size. " Mo than thriSs ten," Chaucer,
18:— Cant. Tales, Prol. 576 (ed. Pollard).
" He that hath suffered this disor- But the distinction, if any there really
dered Spring were, was not always observed.
Hath now himself met with the 35. skir] " move rapidly, scour,"
fall of leaf." Dyce, Glossary. The better spelling is
And Sonnet 73 ; — " skirr." Compare Henry V. iv. vii.
" That time of year thou may'st in 64: —
me behold " we will come to them,
When yellow leaves, or few, or And make them skirr away,"
none, do hang," etc.; 37. How does . . . doc tor] The doctor
passages which certainly support probably enters here and not at the be-
Johnson's emendation. ginning of the scene. Hitherto there
29. Seyton] French, Shakesp. Genea- has been no occasion for his presence.
log. p. 296, says : " The Setons of 37. my lord] One syllable — the extra
Touch were (and are still) hereditary syllable of the line — exactly like the
armour-bearers to the Kings of Scot- legal " m'lud."
land ; there is thus a peculiar fitness in 42. written . . . brain] Compare
the choice of this name." Hamlet, i. v. 103 : " Within the book
35. moe] Shakespeare used both and volume of my brain." "Written":
forms moe and more ; the former usu- and hence fixed or permanent,
ally relating to number, the latter to 43. oblivious] Cotgrave, Diet., " Ob-
186
MACBETH
[act
Cleanse the stuffd bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart ?
Doct. Therein the patient 45
Must minister to himself.
Macb. Throw physic to the dogs ; I '11 none of it-
Come, put mine armour on ; give me my staff. —
Seyton, send out— Doctor, the thanes fly from me.—
Come, Sir, despatch.— If thou couldst, doctor, cast 50
44. stufd^ sUifft F I ; stuft Ff 2, 3, 4; fraught Anon. conj. stuffs Ff 3,
4; stiiffe Ff I, 2 ; slough Anon. conj.
livieux: causing forgetfulnesse.'" Com-
pare Horace, Odes, ii. vii. 21 : "Oblivioso
levia Massico Ciboria exple" ; and" the
insane root," i. iii. 84.
44. stufd . . . sUi^ This, the Folio
reading, as the Clar. Edd. remark, " can
hardly be right. One or other of these
words must be due to a mistake of
transcriber or printer." And Walker
{Crit. i. 276) says : " This species of
corruption — the substitution of a parti-
cular word for another which stands
near it in context, more especially if
there happens to be some resemblance
between the two . . . occurs frequently
in the Folio." Malone, amongst others,
thinks that Shakespeare was " extremely
fond of such repetitions." Undoubtedly
he was ; but only when he had some
quibble or particular point to make : e.g.
Romeo and Juliet, iii. ii. 92 : " Upon
his brow shame is ashamed to sit" ; or
Kitig John, II. i. 470 :—
" For by this knot thou shalt so
surely tie
Thy now unsur'd assurance to the
crown."
See also v. vii. 102 post. Here there
is neither point nor qnibble to be made
in the mere repetition of "stuff."
The key to the correct reading is prob-
ably to be found in Shakespeare's re-
miniscence of the gist of the King's
speech in Henry V. iv. i. 19-23 : —
" So the spirit is eased ;
And when the mind is quicken'd,
out of doubt.
The organs, though defunct and
dead before.
Break up their drowsy grave and
newly move
With casted slough and fresh
legerity."
" Slough " has, in the literal sense, the
various meanings of " mire," " the cast
skin of a snake," " the dead part which
separates from a sore," etc. ; and in the
Cleveland and other Northern dialects
(many words in which were common
enough in Warwickshire) when a per-
son is so moved by trouble as to strain
the heart to breaking, to be choked by
sobs, etc., he is said to be heart-sluffed.
I cannot help thinking that Shakespeare
here wrote sluff, and that this phonetic
form of " slough," by a mistake either
of a transcriber, or of the eye or^ ear of
the printer, appeared in the tolio as
stuff. That is, if it in fact does so
appear; but a microscopical examina-
tion of the text ol two or three of the
Folios in the British Museum seems to
me to leave the question a somewhat
open one. Assuming that sluff is the
true reading, it is clear that the word,
used here as it is in reference to " heart,"
is used by Shakespeare, not in a literal,
but in a metaphorical sense, as appears
from " mind," " memory " and " brain "
in the preceding lines. Per contra if
we are to assume that "stuft"" is
correct, it is quite possible that he
wrote: "Cleanse the sluff t bosom of
that perilous stuff"; and I rather in-
cline to this reading.
47. / '// none of it] As the Clar. Edd.
remark, " the omission of the verb adds
to the emphasis of the phrase."
50. cast] The term employed in the
diagnosis of ailments by inspection of
the urine—" the practical physick ol
that time" (Johnson). Shakespeare
would find it in Lyly's Euphues (Arb.)
296: "An Italian . . . casting my
water . . . commanded the chamber to
be voyded " ; and in Greene's Mena-
phon (Arb.) 35 : " Able to cast his disease
without his water." See also Merry
Wives of Windsor, 11. iii. 30: "bully
stale"; ih. 34: " Castalion -King-
sc. IV.] MACBETH 187
The water of my land, find her disease,
And purge it to a sound and pristine health,
I would applaud thee to the very echo,
That should applaud again.— Pull 't off, I say. —
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug, 55
Would scour these English hence ? — Hear'st thou of
them?
Doct. Ay, my good lord : your royal preparation
Makes us hear something.
Macb. Bring it after me. —
I will not be afraid of death and bane,
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane. \Exit.
Doct. {Aside.'] Were I from Dunsinane away and clear, 61
Profit again should hardly draw me here. [Exeunt.
SCENE IV. — Country near Dunsinane. A wood in view.
Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, old SlWARD and his
Son, Macduff, Menteth, Cathness, Angus, Lenox,
ROSSE, and Soldiers, marching.
Mai. Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand,
That chambers will be safe.
Ment. We doubt it nothing.
Siw. What wood is this before us ?
Ment. The wood of Birnam.
55. senna] F 4; Cyme F i ; Caeny Ff 2, 3. 60. Birnam] Birnane F i
Scene iv.
3 Birnam] Ff 3, 4 ; Byrnam F 2 ; Birnane F i.
Urinal " ; and ib. 60 : " Mockwater." headed ' Of Sene.' In it he says, the
Also 2 Henry IV. i. ii. i : " What says ' leaves of sena . . . sco«r« away fleume
the doctor to my water ? " ; and Twelfth and choler, especially blacke choler and
Night, III. iv. 114: "Carry his water melancholie.' "
to the wise woman." 58- it] i.e. some part of his armour,
52. purge] Compare 111. iv. 76. most probably the helmet.
55. senna] The Folio cyme is a clear SCENB iv
misprint for cynne, one of the many
earlier forms of the modern "senna." SCENE JV.] The action is continued
Cotgrave spells it "Sene" and "Senne," from scene ii.
znd de^nes\ta.s Setie : a little purgative 2. chambers . . . safe] For the idea
shrub or plant. Hunter remarks : "The compa.Te King yohn, v. i'l. 1^7 :—
F 2 correctly represents the pronun- " Shall that victorious hand be feebled
ciation of the name of the drug, here,
now called senna, in Shakespeare's That in your chambers gave you
time, and is still the pronunciation of chastisement?"
it by the common people. Thus in The Shakespeare may perhaps refer to the
Treasurie of Hidden Secrets, 1627 : espionage mentioned in iii. iv. 131 :—
" Take scene of Alexandria one ounce," " There's not a one of them but in his
etc.; and the Clar. Edd. : "In Lyle's house
New Herbal, 1595, p. 437, is a chapter I keep a servant feed."
138
MACBETH
[act
Mai. Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
And bear 't before him : thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in report of us.
Soldiers. It shall be done.
Siw. We learn no other, but the confident tyrant
Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure
Our setting down before 't.
Mai. 'T is his main hope ;
For where there is advantage to be given,
10
II. advantage to be given, 1 Ff; advantage to be gone, Capell; a ^vantage to
be gone, Johnson conj. ; advantage to be got Steevens conj. ; advantage to be
gotten Collier (ed. 2) ; advantage to be ta'en Dyce (ed. 2), (S. Walker conj.) ;
advantage only given Kinnear conj. ; advantage given to flee or advantage to
'em given Clar. Edd. conj.
4-7. Let every soldier . . . report of
us] Beyond doubt Shakespeare got
this idea from Holinshed. But the
device seems to be of old standing.
Collier mentions Deloney's ballad in
praise of Kentishmen, published in
Strange Histories, 1607 (reprinted by
the Percy Society, vol. iii.), in which
they conceal their numbers by the
boughs of trees ; but, as Dyce remarks
(Remarks, p. 202), the incident was
versified by Deloney from the passage
in Holinshed. Some authorities trace
the legend from the Arabic, and also
from Saxo Grammaticus. But G. Neil-
son in the Scottish Antiquary, Oct,
1897, p. 53, refers to one example in
Scottish history of a moving wood
which, he says, there is no need to
brand as mythical. The reference is
to a scheme of Earl Patrick's after the
battle of Dufflin, in 1332 : " for filling
up with [faggots or] fascines from the
wood of Lamberkine the antemural fosses
of Perth " : and he considers that this
scheme — almost beyond question his-
torical— might well in the century or so
intervening between the battle and its
commemoration in Wyntoun's Chronicle
(viii. 3582-89) "have contributed
largely to the Perthshire legend of
Birnam and Dunsinane. Hence the
true incident at Lamberkine in 1332
may have furnished a nucleus for the
embellished legend of Birnam." Skeat
(N.Q. 6, S. i. 434, i88o) points out that
the story of the moving wood occurs in
the Romance 0/ Alexander : " Alexander
autem precepit milicibus suis ut incider-
ent ramos arborum et herbas evellerent,
easque inferrent equorum pedibus et mu-
lorum ; quos videntes Perses ab excelsis
montibusstupebant"(ed. 1490, Fol. C).
6. discovery] i.e. reconnaisance. Com-
pare King Lear, v. i. 53 : —
" Here is the guess of their true
strength and forces
By diligent discovery."
10. setting down] laying siege. The
Clar, Edd., retaining this (the Folio)
reading, consider that " set " is used
intransitively, and they compare Corio-
lanus, I, ii. 28 : —
" Let us alone to guard Corioli :
If they set down before 's,"
But both passages show clear textual
blunders ; and we should certainly
print "sitting", Shakespeare never
uses "set" for "sit" in this sense of
besiege. "Set down" with him has
always its active sense, and could only
be used here if we are to suppose that
an object is understood after it. See
Antony and Cleopatra, iii. xiii. 168:
" Caesar sits down in Alexandria " ;
Coriolanus, iv. vii. 28 : " All places
yield to him ere he sits down " ; and
(metaphorically) All 's Well that Ends
Well, I. i, 129 : " Man, sitting down
before you, will undermine you."
11. given] "gone," the reading of
Johnson and Capell, is perhaps the most
satisfactory of the proposed readings,
having regard to the significant word
" absent " in 1. 14 ; but more particularly
to the corresponding passage in Holin-
shed, Hist. Scot. ii. 175, ed. Boswell-
Stone, p. 41 : " Straungers, in whom
he might better trust than in his owne
subiectes, which stale dayly from him,"
sc. v.] MACBETH 189
Both more and less have given him the revolt,
And none serve with him but constrained things,
Whose hearts are absent too.
Macd. Let our just censures
Attend the true event, and put we on 15
Industrious soldiership.
Siw. The time approaches,
That will with due decision make us know
What we shall say we have, and what we owe.
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate.
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate ; 20
Towards which advance the war. [Exeunt, marching.
SCENE V. — Dunsinane. Within the castle.
Enter, with drum and colours, MACBETH, Seyton, and
Soldiers.
Macb. Hang out our banners on the outward walls ;
The cry is still, " They come ! " Our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn : here let them lie,
Till famine and the ague eat them up.
Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours, 5
5. forced] ^forc'd Hanmer.
12. move and lesf\ i.e. great and life by "self and violent hands". (See
small. Compare 2 Henry IV. i. i. 209 : v. vii. loo.)
" And more and less do flock to follow i. Hang . . . walls] Keight-
him." ley thought we should punctuate :
14, 15. Let . . . event} i.e. Let our " Hang out our banners ! On the
judgment, in order to prove just (true, outward walls The cry," etc., remark
orcorrect), await the actual event : let us ing that it was from the keep, not
reserve judgment until after the conflict the walls, that the banner was hung,
with Macbeth. But this seems hypercritical, having
16. industriotis soldiership] i.e. czreiul regard to 1 Henry VI. i. iv. i: "Ad-
military duty. vance our waving colours on the walls " ;
19. Thoughts . . . relate] Siward and the rhythm of the line is against
seems to think Malcolm's confidence Keightley.
somewhat premature. 5. forc'd] reinforced, strengthened.
20. certain . . . arbitrate] i.e. actual In Troilus and Cressida, v. i. 64: "wit
fighting must decide the issue and make larded with malice aad malice forced
it a certainty. Steevens quotes Chap- with wit" (j.«./arc«rf, stuffed), the meta-
man's Odyssey, bk. xviii. : " Can arbi- phor is from the kitchen ; as also in
<mie a war of deadliest weight." Henry V. iv. i. 280 : '^ the farced title
running 'fore the King." The passage
Scene v. g^^j^^ Troilus and Cressida is brazenly
Scene v.] This scene returns to imitated in The Two Noble Kinsmen,
Dunsinane, and continues the action of iv. iii. 8. See Shakespeare Apocrypha,
scenes i. and iii. .In a few brief but ed. Tucker Brooke, 1908 : " the name
pregnant words Shakespeare leads us to Palamon lardss it, that she farces ev'ry
infer that Lady Macbeth has taken her busines withall."
140
MACBETH
[act
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home. What is that noise ?
[A cry within, of women.
Sey. It is the cry of women, my good lord. [Exit.
Macb. I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd i o
To hear a night-shriek ; and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse, and stir,
As life were in 't. I have supp'd full with horrors :
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me.
Re-enter Seyton.
Wherefore was that cry ?
Sey. The queen, my lord, is dead.
Macb. She should have died hereafter :
There would have been a time for such a word. —
15
10. cooVd^ 'coird Malone conj. ; quaiVd Collier (ed. 2). 15. [Re-enter
Seytoti] Dyce; om. Ff. i6. tny lord] om. Pope.
6. dareful] Not used elsewhere by
Shakespeare.
10. cool'd] Used in a somewhat
stronger sense than at present. See
e.g. King John, 11. i. 479: —
" Lest zeal, now melted by the windy
breath
Of soft petitions, pity and remorse,
Cool and congeal again to what it
was."
Collier's reading, quaiVd, is plausible ;
none the less that the words are found
in combination in Florio's Montaigne,
Essayes, bk. iii. ch. 5 : "In like case,
incorporal pleasures, it is not injustice
to quaile and cool the mind, and say it
must thereunto be entrained as unto a
forced bond, or servile necessity."
11. fell of hair] skin with the hair on.
" Hairy part, capillitium " (Johnson).
Florio, Worlde of Wordes, has " Velio,
afleefe ofwooll, a fell or skin that hath
wooll on" ; and Cotgrave, " Peau : /. a
skin, fell, hide, or pelt."
12. treatise] story, recital ; as in Much
Ado About Nothing, 1. i. 317 : " I would
have salved it with a longer treatise " ;
and Venus and Adonis, 774 : " Your
treatise makes me like you worse and
worse."
13. with] Compare iv. ii. 32 ante,
and Measure for Measure, iv. iii. 139 ;
" 1 am fain to dine and sup with water
and bran."
16. 17. The queen . . . hereafter]
These lines really constitute one line,
the first having only two feet, i.e. " The
queen, J m'lord's dead."
17. should . . . hereafter] Johnson's
interpretation of this passage is plau-
sible. He says : " Her death should
have been deferred to some more peace-
ful hour; had she lived longer, there
would have been a more convenient
time for such a word, for such intelli-
gence. Such is the condition of human
life that we always think to-morrow will
be happier than to-day," etc. Or it may
be that " should " is used indifferently
to denote either what will be or what
ought to be; compare line 31 post.
Hence Macbeth may here mean that
Lady Macbeth would have died later on
in any case, and that it makes no differ-
ence at what point in the dull round of
existence life may terminate; death then
is to be thought of as something that
must happen to-morrow, not to-day.
18. such a word] i.e. such a phrase,
expression, intelligence, as "the queen
is dead " — in a general and comprehen-
sive sense. Compare Richard II. i. iii
152 : " the hopeless word of ' never to
return.' "
sc. v.]
MACBETH
141
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time ;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle !
23. dusty] F I ; study Ff 2, 3, 4; dusky Hanmer (Theobald conj.).
20
19-23. To-morrow . , . death] " It
is not impossible," says Halliwell, " that
Shakespeare may here have recollected
a remarkable engraving in Barclay's
Ship of Fooles, 1570, copied from that
in the older Latin version of 1498 ; —
" They folowe the crowes crye to
their great sorrowe,
Cras, eras, c^-as, to-morrowe we shall
amende,
And if we mend not then, then shall
we the next raorowe,
Or els shortly after we shall no
more offende ;
Amende, mad foole, when God this
grace doth sende."
Or, which is perhaps more probable, the
passage may have been suggested by
his recent perusal of Florio's Montaigne,
I. xix. Each to-morrow, in its slow-
moving pace, till the end of time be-
comes a " to-day," each " to-day " a
" yesterday " ; and hence our yesterdays
have lighted fools (mankind) on their
way to the gloom of death. Allen
(MS. quoted by Furness) thinks Shake-
speare had in his mind the phenomenon
of the ignisfatuus — Fool's Light — which
" creeps along in advance and deceives
and makes fools of men, and so lights
them the way through the darkness to
death. As Shakespeare called Ophelia's
drowning in the shallow brook a muddy
death, so it may have occurred to him
here to call the death of the wayfarer, in
the night, a dusky death."
2T. recorded] "Seems to signify the
time fixed in the decrees of Heaven for
the period of life" (Johnson). "Not
only the time that has been, but the time
that shall be recorded," says Mason.
" Probably," says Steevens (and with
much probability, as if time were utter-
ing or publishing his record), " here
used for recording, or recordable, one
participle for the other." See the note
on " Time's deformed hand," Comedy of
Errors, v. i. 299, in the present series,
1907. Hudson thinks the expression
means " the last syllable of the record of
time."
23. dusty] The corruption, study, of
Ff 2, 3, 4 — a curious example, by
the way, of that metathesis of letters
which is so common in them all — is
here significant as showing that the
first Folio reading, dusty, was by no
means a fixed and settled quantity, so
to speak, or at any time held to be the
authentic reading : and study seems to
have been unhesitatingly accepted by
Rowe, Pope, and Capell. Theobald,
with his usual acumen, thought that
" perhaps Shakespeare might have wrote
dusky, i.e. dark, a word very familiar
with him." It certainly was, and in all
his references the idea of darkness or
death is involved. He speaks of " smoke
andrf»/s^^vapoursofthenight,"I Henry
VI. II. ii. 27 ; of " the dusky torch of
Mortimer " {i.e. his body in the darkness
of death compared to an extinguished
torch), ?' 6. II. V. 122; "the dusky sky,"
a Henry VI. xii. ii, 104 ; " dusky spect-
acles" (i.e. unseeing eyes), ib. iii. ii.
112 ; and, above all, of Hastings, Rivers,
etc : " Untimely smothered in their
dusky graves," Richard III. iv. iv. 68.
" Dust " is common enough with him,
but 'dusty" he only uses once, viz. in
Troilus and Cressida, iii. ii. rgS,
" Mighty states . . . are grated to dusty
nothing"; where, of course, the word
coming as it does after "grated" is
specially applicable. In support of
dusty, Steevens quotes Psalm xxii., " the
dust of death " ; Douce, 1839 ed. p. 246,
The Vision of Piers Plowman (B. Passus,
XX. 99, 100, ed. Skeat), "Deth came
dryuende after, and al to doust passhed
Kynges & Knyghtes, Kayseres and
popes " ; and Collier, Anthony Copley's
Fig for Fortune, 1596 (Spenser Society
Reprint, p. 55), " Inviting it to dusty
death's defeature." Nevertheless, on
the merits, and having regard to the
turn of thought and the necessary con-
tinuity of metaphors, I am convinced
that Shakespeare's epithet was dusky
No doubt we should, as the Clar. Edd
put it, " be very chary of making altera-
tions in the text on account of any
142
MACBETH
[act v.
Life's but a walking shadow ; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 25
And then is heard no more : it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Enter a Messenger.
Thou com'st to use thy tongue ; thy story quickly.
Mess. Gracious my lord, 30
I should report that which I say I saw,
But know not how to do it.
Macb. Well, say. Sir.
Mess. As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
28-30. Two lines (Lettsom conj.), the first ending tongue, 32. do %€[
Steevens (1793) ; dooH Ff i, 2. %ay'\ say it Pope.
apparent confusion of metaphor." But
we should be equally chary of retaining
an epithet merely because it can be
defended on the lines of a trite similarity
of thought, as here. When the context
is closely examined, it will be found that
there is really no confusion of metaphor
here ; there is rather a continuity of
metaphor, exhibited in several phrases
and with one spirit animating them
throughout. The argument of Elwin in
his edition of Macbeth (Shakespeare
Restored, 1853), in favour of dusky,
seems to me unanswerable. In effect it
is as follows. Light has effected nothing
more for folly than to light it on its way
into darkness. Life, ending in darkness,
suggests " the idea of connecting it with
darkness as a shadow — a something akin
to that blackness to which it is prose-
cuting its way. The brief candle is the
day — the time that the day gives for
life ; and the living man is the shadow
walking between the light and that
dusky death to which it is lighting him.
. . . Life is but a delusive resemblance
of an endurable substance, and it is use-
less to withhold it from mingling at once
with the darkness to which it is so closely
related, that to it it is hastening, and
to it it will go. But the notion is pur-
sued yet further, and the poor player is
but the shadow of the substance or
reality whose semblance he has assumed.
With the term dusty the shadow has no
affinity: and by retaining this word the
otherwise exquisitely preserved unity of
thought would consequently be de-
stroyed." On the question of typography
I am equally convinced that dicsky is the
true reading. The similarity of sound
between the two words, if the printer
was composing by ear from dictation,
and the ease with which the double
letter "ft" might by mistake take the
place of the long " s " followed by " k,"
if he were composing by eye from a MS.
copy, tend to render a corruption per-
fectly easy and probable, and a fortiori,
if it can be held to be so on other
grounds.
24. shadow; a poor player} Refer-
ences to the stage and its players are
of course very common in Shakespeare,
and no less to players whose persona-
tions are "shadows" of actual life.
See I. iii. 128 and 11. iv. 5 ajite, and
the well-known references in Midsum-
mer Night's Dream, As You Like It,
Hamlet, etc.
28-30. Signifying . , . my lord] The
text should be printed in two lines,
ending respectively "tongue" and
"lord."
31. should] ought to. Compare 17
ante.
32. say] Pope's insertion of "it"
after " say" is obviously essential both
to the rhythm and the meaning of
the line, and may be unhesitatingly ac-
cepted, especially having regard to the
" it " preceding.
sc. v.]
MACBETH
143
I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to move.
Macb. Liar, and slave ! 35
Mess. Let me endure your wrath, if 't be not so.
Within this three mile may you see it coming ;
I say, a moving grove.
Macb. If thou speak'st false,
Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive,
Till famine cling thee : if thy speech be sooth, 40
I care not if thou dost for me as much. —
I pull in resolution ; and begin
To doubt the equivocation of the fiend, ^\¥'f
That lies like truth : " Fear not, till Birnam wood
Do come to Dunsinane" ; — and now a wood 45
Comes toward Dunsinane. — Arm, arm, and out 1 —
If this which he avouches does appear,
There is nor flying hence, nor tarrying here.
I 'gin to be aweary of the sun.
34:
Fi.
44. Birjtam] F 4 ; Byrnam Ff 2, 3 ; Byrnane F
42. ptdl] F I ; pall A. Hunter (Johnson conj.).
39. shaW] shall
37. mile] Compare Merry Wives of
Windsor, ill, ii. 33 : " This boy will
carry a letter twenty mile " ; Much
Ado About Nothing, 11. iii. 17 :
" I have known when he would have
walked ten mile afoot to see a good
armour " ; and many other passages.
39. the next tree] Almost a proverbial
expression with the Elizabethan writers.
Compare The Tempest, iii. ii. 42 : ♦' if
thou prove a mutineer, the next tree ! "
Craig quotes T. Heywood, Edward IV.
Part I. (ed. Pearson, i. 37) : —
" he shall have martial law,
And at the next tree we do come
unto
Be hanged."
40. cliitg] shrink up, wither. Used
of the drawing together and shrinking
or shrivelling up of animal or vegetable
tissue ; and still alive in dialect. The
Oxford Diet, quotes Sir Ferumb, 2524
(c. 1380):—
" For betere is ous for to die amonges
our fos in fighte,
Than her-inne clynge & drie &
daye for hunger righte."
And Cov. Myst. 54 (1400) : " My hert
doth clynge and cleve as clay." Craig
quotes Richard Rolle, The Pricke of
Conscience. 823 (of a dying man) : " His
feet waxes cold, his belly clynges."
42. pull] " pall," i.e. grow vapid or
stale, and therefore worthless, is the
preferable reading here. Compare
Hamlet, v. ii. 9: "When our deep
plots do pall" ; and Antony and Cleo-
patra, II. vii. 88 : " thy palVd for-
tunes." There need be little hesitat on
in adopting Johnson's emendation. He
justly characterises the Folio reading
as " a phrase without either evample,
elegance or propriety." There is in
fact no other example of "pull in" in
this sense in Shakespeare. And the
Clar. Edd. remark : " This, or ' I pale
in resolution,' better expresses the re-
quired sense, involuntary loss of heart
and hope. Besides, as the text stands "
(and this is a fatal objection to pull),
" we must emphasise ' in ' contrary to
the rhythm of the verse." Steevens,
retaining " pull in," explains : " He had
permitted his courage (like a hery
horse) to carry him to the brink of a
precipice, but, seeing his danger, re-
solves to check that confidence to
which he had given the rein before."
47-50. If this . . . undone] The Clar.
Edd. suspect these four lines to be in-
terpolated. See the Introduction on
this point.
47. avouches] See iii. i. 119.
144 MACBETH [act v.
And wish the estate o' the world were now undone. — 50
Ring the alarum-bell ! — Blow, wind ! come, wrack !
At least we'll die with harness on our back.
[Exeunt.
SCENE VI. — The same. A plain before the castle.
Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, old SlWARD, MAC-
DUFF, etc., and their army, with boughs.
Mai. Now, near enough : your leavy screens throw down,
And show like those you are. — You, worthy uncle,
Shall, with my cousin, your right-noble son,
Lead our first battle : worthy Macduff, and we,
Shall take upon 's what else remains to do, 5
According to our order.
Siw. Fare you well. —
Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night,
Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight,
51. Ring the alayum-bell 1} A stage-direction, Theobald conj.
SCENS VI.
I. Two lines Ff. leavy'\ Ff, Camb. Edd. ; leafy Collier.
51. Ring . . . bell .'] Theobald be- law, and other lawyers in Westminster-
lie ,'ed these words to be a "Stage- hal, pleaded in /tarwwj^." And see the
direction crept from the Margin into the Authorised Version, i Kings xxii. 34.
Text thro' the last Line but One being
deficient without them, occasioned i^CBNE vi.
probably by a Cut that had been made i. leavy] The Folio prints leavy,
in the Speech by the Actors. They which, in Much Ado About Nothing, n,
were a Memorandum to the Prompter iii. 75, rhymes to " heavy." Cotgrave
to ring the Alarum-bell, i.e. the Bell, has " Feuillu : leauie." But nothing
perhaps at that Time used to warn the appears to be gained by retaining this
Tragedy-Dj-ifw and Trumpets to be old form,
ready to sound an Alarm." I see no 2. uncle] See iv. iii. 134,
sufficient warrant for Theobald's belief: 4. battle] Nares defines as " the main
and it is certainly not a stage-direction or middle body of an army, between the
in II. iii. 76 ante. van and the rear." But it is often used
51. wrack/] Almost always spelt of a whole army in order of battle, e.f.
with an " a " in the Folios ; as in i. iii. in King John, iv. ii. 78 : " Like heralds
114, etc. 'twixt two dreadful battles set." See
52. harness] generally, gear, equi- also King Edward III. v. i. 136
page, furniture, and specifically, armour {Shakespeare Apocrypha, ed. Tucker
for a man or horse. Shakespeare uses Brooke, 1908) : " Heere stood a baitaile
it in both senses. Halliwell quotes an of ten thousand horse " ; ib. 150, " the
interesting passage from Stow's battailes ioyne " ; and the references in
Chronicle: "On the fry day, which was the Oxford Diet. Probably Shakespeare
Candlemasse daie (Feb. 2, 1553-4), the here took the word from Holinshed :
most parte of the householders of Lon- " Therefore when his whole power was
don, with the Maior and Aldermen, come togither, he diuided the same
were in harnesse : yea this day and into three battels " (Hist. Scot. ii.
other dales the justices, sergeants at the 169).
sc. vii] MACBETH 145
Macd. Make all our trumpets speak ; give them all breath,
Those clamorous harlaingers of blood and death. lo
[Exeunt. Alarums continued.
SCENE VII. — The same. Another part of the plain.
Enter MACBETH.
Macb. They have tied me to a stake : I cannot fly,
But, bear-like, I must fight the course. — What 's he,
That was not born of woman ? Such a one
Am I to fear, or none.
Enter young SlWARD.
Yo. Siw. What is thy name?
Macb. Thou 'It be afraid to hear it. 5
Yo. Siw. No ; though thou call'st thyself a hotter name
Than any is in hell.
Macb. My name 's Macbeth.
Yo. Siw. The devil himself could not pronounce a title
More hateful to mine ear.
Macb. No, nor more fearful.
Yo. Siw. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant : with my sword 10
I '11 prove the He thou speak'st.
[They fight, and young Siward is slain.
Macb. Thou wast born of woman : —
But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn,
Brandish'd by man that 's of a woman born. [Exit.
12. swords] words Daniel conj,
10. harbingers] See note on i. iv. Stood famous Edward, still expect-
45. ing when
Scene vii. Those doggs of Fraunce would
fasten on his flesh."
2. bear-like . . . course'] Bear-baiting Steevens refers to Brome's The Anti-
was a favourite old English " sport " ; podes (1638) : " Also you shall see two
and a " course " was the technical term ten-dog courses at the great beare."
for a bout or round between the bear ii. Thou wast] The spelling of the
and the dogs. See Strutt's Sports and Folio, viz. " Thou was't," is significant
Pastimes, bk. iii. ch. 6. Compare King as showing that these words were pro-
Lear, iii. vii. 54 : " I am tied to the stake, nounced as thou'ast — almost equivalent
and I must stand the course" ; and see to a monosyllable, in order to preserve
also King Edward III. v. i. 143 the rhythm of the line.
{Shakespeare Apocrypha, ed. Tucker 13. born] "Shakespeare," says
Brooke, 1908) : — Steevens, " designed Macbeth should
" Or as a beare fast chaind vnto a appear invincible till he encountered
stake, the object destined for his destruction."
10
146 MACBETH [act v.
Alarums. Enter MACDUFF.
Macd. That way the noise is.— Tyrant, show thy face :
If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of mine, i 5
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched Kernes, whose arms
Are hir'd to bear their staves : either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword, with an unbatter'd edge,
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be ; 20
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune !
And more 1 beg not. {Exit. Alarum.
Enter Malcolm and old Siward.
Siw. This way, my lord ;— the castle 's gently render'd :
The tyrant's people on both sides do fight ; 25
The noble thanes do bravely in the war.
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.
Mai. We have met with foes
That strike beside us.
Siw. Enter, Sir, the castle.
[ Exeunt. A laru m.
22, 23. Seem% . . . And\ ^o Ff, one line Hanmer. 22. bruited] bruited
there Steevens conj. ; to be bruited Keightley conj. find] Ff ; but find
Steevens conj. 23. old Siward] Seyward Ff. 27. itself professes] pro-
fesses itself Johnson.
17. Kernes] See i. ii. 13 Mite. Applied larly remarkable for the number of these
in this passage to the English rank and &7ra| Xcy6fx(va."
glg_ 22. bruited] announced, reported :
18. staves] spear-shafts. So Richard with the idea of clamour. Steevens
III. V. iii. 341 : " Amaze the welkin quotes Acolastus, a comedy, 1540 :
with your broken staves." " Lais was one of the most bruited com-
18. either] like neither, whether, mon women that clerks do write of."
whither (iv. ii. 72), etc., is very fre- And see 1 Henry VI. 11. iii. 68 : "I find
quently monosyllabic in Shakespeare, thou art no less than fame hath &n«<^rf."
18. thou] Preferably perhaps, to be 22. Let] The line as it stands in the
construed as an object, having reference Folio wants a foot, and the prefixing of
to "strike" in the preceding line, i.e. "only" (or other word of like character),
either I strike at thee, or etc. There is which has evidently dropped out, and is.
a remote possibility that a line has been frequently used in the plays before verbs,
lost, as Malone supposed ; but I cannot in sentences of this kind, is essential,
think so. 24. gently render'd] i.e. tamely sur-
20. undeeded] Not found elsewhere in rendered.
Shakespeare. 29. strike beside ns] strike without
21. clatter] Another word not found reaching us] i.e. deliberately miss us.
elsewhere in Shakespeare. " Macbeth," Or it may mean simply, as some editors,
as the Clar. Edd. remark, " is particu- think, " by our side."
sc. vii] MACBETH 147
- Re-enter MACBETH.
Macb. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die 30
On mine own sword ? whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.
Re-enter Macduff.
Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn j
Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee :
But get thee back, my soul is too much charg'd
With blood of thine already.
Macd. I have no words ; 3 5
My voice is in my sword : thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out ! [They fight.
Macb. Thou losest labour :
As easy may'st thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed :
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests ; 40
I bear a charmed life ; which must not yield
To one of woman born.
Macd. Despair thy charm ;
And let the angel, whom thou still hast serv'd,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd. 45
30. Dyce, Staunton, the Cambridge 42. Despair] i.e. despair of; the pre-
Editors and others begin a new scene position being omitted after verbs re-
here, but in the Folio the scene is con- garded as transitive. " Perhaps," as
tinued till the end of the play ; and a Abbott, Gram. p. 200, says, " a Latin-
new scene at this point rather interrupts ism." Shakespeare does not seem to
the continuity of the battle. have used the direct object elsewhere,
30. Roman fool] i.e. Brutus, or per- though he has "despairing of" in /
haps Antony or Cato. See Julius Henry VI. 11. i. 17 (if that line is his).
Ccesar, v. i. loi : — Ben Jonson has " despair " simply, at the
" Even by the rule of that philosophy end of his memorial lines prefixed to the
By which I did blame Cato for the Folio, To the Memory of my beloved, the
death Author, Master Wm. Shakespeare : —
Which he did give himself." " Which [the stage], smce thy flight
Having regard to the word " fool," the from hence, hath mourn'd like
more probable reference is to Brutus. night,
38. intrenchant] incapable of being And despairs day, but for thy Vol-
cut : the active in a passive sense. It is umes light."
not used elsewhere by Shakespeare, 43. angel] i.e. the bad angel, evil
though he uses " trenchant " in an active genius. Compare 3 Henry VI. i. ii. 186
sense, ^'.g'." trenchant sword" in Ttwo« (of Falstaff) : "You follow the young
of Athens, iv. iii. 115. prince up and down, like his ill angel."
41. charmed life] Compare Spenser, There are many references to the
FaeneQueene,hk.i.iv. so:— "better angel," "good angel," "bad
" he beares a charmed shield, angel," " worser spirit," " black angel,"
And eke enchauntedarmes, that none etc., in the plays and sonnets,
can perce " ; 45- Untimely ripp'd] Furness, Jr. (New
and Cymbeline, v. iii. 68 : — Variorum) quotes an interesting passage
" I, in my own woe charm'd, from Henry's note on the Mneid, x.
Could not find death." 315 :—
148
MACBETH
[act v.
Macb. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man :
And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd,
That palter with us in a double sense ;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope. — I '11 not fight with thee.
Macd. Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o' the time : \
We '11 have thee, as our rarer monsters are.
Painted upon a pole, and underwrit, i k^,
" Here may you see the tyrant." -—^ ^ -''
Macb. I will not yield.
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
And to be baited with the rabble's curse.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
50
55
51, 52. S. Walker conj., lines end liope ! coward, and / will for I'll.
Birnam'] F 4 ; Byrnane F i ; Byrnam Ff 2, 3.
59-
" Inde Lichan ferit, exsectum jam
matre perempta
Et tibi, Phoebe, sacrum."
" We have another, and very interesting,
instance of the custom ... to be met
with." And he further notes that Dr.
Harris of Philadelphia " has collected
upwards of seventeen instances wherein
premature birth was due, not to the
Caesarian section, but to laceration by
horns of cattle ; and suggests that such
a casualty may have happened to the
mother of Macduff." Shakespeare may
have read the passage in Virgil, or he
may readily have heard of some instance
of the kind ; but the probability is that
he simply relied on his prime authority,
Holinshed, who has, " for I am euen he
that thy wj'zards haue tolde thee of, who
was neuer borne of my motlier, but ripped
out of her wombe " {Hist. Scot. 176a).
47. better part] This seems to mean
simply the mind, soul or spirit : not,
as the Clar. Edd. think, " the better
part of my manhood," whatever that
may mean. It is frequent in Shake-
speare. Compare Comedy of Errors,
II. ii. 128 : " thy dear seli's better part " ;
ib. ui. ii. 61: "mine own selfs better
part " ; As Yon Like It, i. ii. 261 : " my
better parts are all thrown down " ; ib.
III. ii. 155 : " Atalanta's better part " ;
and Peele's Arraignment of Paris, 11, i.
76 (BuUen, 1888) :—
" And look how much the mind, the
better part.
Doth overpass the body in desert."
49. palter] to shuffle, equivocate.
Compare yulius Ccesar, 11. i. 125 : —
"Secret Romans, that have spoke
the word,
And will not palter."
And Troilus and Cressida, 11. iii. 244 :
"that sha.\l palter thus with us!"; ib.
v. ii. 48 ; and Antony and Cleopatra,
in. xi. 63: "And palter in the shifts of
lowness." Cotgrave has '* Harceler :
to haggle, hucke, dodge, or paulter long
in the buying of a commoditie.'^
51. not fight . . . thee] I doubt whether
Walker's arrangement is right after all.
He puts the emphasis on thee, but I
think the emphasis is on not, indicating
Macbeth's flat refusal to fight; but, of
course, Shakespeare may have meant
to emphasise thee as indicating Mac-
beth's refusal to fight with Macduff
above all other men.
53. show] Compare Antony and Cleo-
patra, IV. xii. 36 : " Most monster-like
be shown."
55. Painted upon a pole] i.e. painted
on a cloth or board suspended on a pole.
Compare Benedick's jest in Much Ado
About Nothing, i. i. 267, "and let me
be vilely painted," etc. Craig " cannot
think we have Shakespeare's words
here." He suggests Paunch ed for
" painted," quoting Cotgrave, " Desen-
trailler : to paunch, bowell or unbowell " ;
and also Gelding's Ovid, Metam. xiii.
[1. 1016, ed. Rouse, 1904]: "I shall
paunch him quick " [alive]. But this
seems needlessly ferocious.
sc. vii] MACBETH 149
And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born, 60
Yet I will try the last : before my body
I throw my warlike shield : lay on, Macduff;
And damn'd be him that first cries, " Hold, enough ! "
{Exeunt, fighting.
Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM,
old Si WARD, ROSSE, Thanes, and Soldiers,
Mai. I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd.
Siw. Some must go off ; and yet, by these I see, 65
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
Mai. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt :
He only liv'd but till he was a man ;
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd, 70
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.
Siw. Then he is dead ?
Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field. Your cause of sorrow
Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then
It hath no end.
Siw. Had he his hurts before ? 75
60. heing\ he Theobald. 63. \Exeiint, . . .] Exeunt fighting. Alarums.
Enter Fighting, and Macbeth slaine. Fl'.
61,62. before . . . shield] This sen- ent, and seem to imply different methods
tence has been suspected as an interpo- of ending the play. Shakespeare is not
lation. See Introduction. It certainly perhaps responsible for this. As Malone
does sound to modern ears somewhat says : '* Many of the stage-directions
transpontine and bombastic; but quite appear to have been inserted by the
possibly Shakespeare wrote it with the players ; and they are often very in-
idea of Macbeth's warning Macduff that judicious." Possibly a fresh scene
recrimination was at an end, and that ought to begin at this point,
a stern duel was about to begin. There 65. go off] Compare " taking off," i.
seems no other reason for the existence vii. 20 ; and " take off," iii. i. 104. A
of the phrase ; except perhaps as lead- stage metaphor, signifying the exit of
ing up to the ever popular stage fight : the soldier from life's stage.
a " concession to the athletic interest," 70. his prowess] I see no objection to
as Professor Raleigh calls it (Shake- taking these words as a trisyllable foot.
speare, p. 102). " Prowess " appears to be monosyllabic
63. Hold] The cry of the heralds, in Greene's Alphonsus, in. i. 685 (ed.
" Ho ! Ho ! " which stopped a combat, is Churton Collins, vol. i., ed. Dyce, vol. ii.
probably a corruption of "Hold." See p. 27): " Whose /row^je alone hath
Holinshed's History of England (ed. 2, bene the onely cause." It is a dissyl-
1586, 7), p. 495a, 56, referring to the lable in the Second and Third Parts of
combat between the Dukes of Hereford Henry VI. ; but Shakespeare's style and
and Norfolk, "The Duke of Norfolke versification had changed much in the
was not fullie fet forward, when the intervening fourteen years or so.
king caste downe his warder, and the 71. unshrinking station] i.e. the
Heralds cried, ho, ho." station whence he did not shrink.
63. The Folio stage-directions here 75-78. Ha<f/i« ... deaf/t] Shakespeare
and at line 82 are somewhat inconsist- here closely follows Holinshed {Hist.
150 MACBETH [act v.
Rosse. Ay, on the front.
Siw. Why then, God's soldier be he !
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death :
And so, his knell is knoll'd.
^^^■' He 's worth more sorrow.
And that I '11 spend for him.
'S'zw. He 's worth no more ; 80
They say, he parted well, and paid his score :
And so, God be with him ! — Here comes newer comfort.
Re-enter Macduff, with Macbeth's head.
Macd. Hail, king ! for so thou art. Behold, where stands
The usurper's cursed head : the time is free.
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl, 85
That speak my salutation in their minds ;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine, —
Hail, King of Scotland !
All. Hail, King of Scotland ! {Flourish.
Mai. We shall not spend a large expense of time, 90
Before we reckon with your several loves,
82. And so] So Pope. 85. pearl] peers Rowe ; pearls Var. '73. 89.
Scotland 11 Scotland 1 kail! Hanmer. go. expense} extent Steevens conj. ;
expanse Singer conj.
Eng. i. bk. viii. 192a) : '• And when his change was a very proper one. A man
father heard the newes, he demanded may be called a pearl " [Florio so calls
whether he received the wound whereof Lord Southampton in a sonnet prefixed
he died, in the fore part of the bodie, or to his Worlde of Wordes (159S), viz. :
in the hinder part, and when it was " Braue Earle, bright Pearle of Peeres,
told him that he receiued it in the fore- peerleffe Nobilitie"], "and many men
part : ' I reioife (faith he) euen with all pearls par excellence ; but to call a
my heart for I would not wifh either to crowd of noblemen the pearl of a king-
my fonne nor to myfelfe any other kmd dom is an anomalous and ungraceful use
of death.'" of language." "Compass'd," too, I
81. parted] Compare Henry V. 11. iii. think, would rather seem to imply the
12 (of the death of Falstaff) : " a' parted plural ; but Shakespeare may have used
even just between twelve and one." the singular with a collective force, and
82. God . . . him .'] This formula is we are hardy justified in making a
generally contracted in the Folio and change. See Hamlet, iv, vii. 93 : "he
the Elizabethan dramatists, and in is the brooch indeed and gem of all the
various ways, such as God b' wi'ye ! etc. nation."
83. 84. stands . . . head] This fol- 90. spend . . . expense] This may be
lows Holinshed's Hist. Scot. ii. p. 176 ; a cognate accusative, but it is an un-
"Then cutting his head from his usual phrase. Steevens calls it "a
shoulders he set it vpon a pole, and phrase with which no reader will be
brought it vnto Malcolme." satisfied. We certainly owe it to the
84. the time] See i. v. 63 ; iv, iii. 72, mistake of a transcriber or the negligence
etc. of a printer. However, in Comedy of
85. pearl] Grant White rema-ks on Errors, in. i. 123 : ' this jest shall cost
Rowe's reading of the plural, " Rowe's me some expense.'' "
sc. vii] MACBETH 151
And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls ; the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What 's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time, — 95
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad.
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny ;
Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen,
Who, as 't is thought, by self and violent hands 100
Took off her life ; — this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place.
So, thanks to all at once, and to each one.
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone. 105
{^Flourish. Exeunt.
92. My\ om. Pope. loi. ivhat] what's Hanmer.
93. " Malcolme Cammore thus re- remarks, " This is an expression Shake-
couering the realme . . . created manie speare is fond of: ' Do curse the grace
earles, lords, barons, and knights, that with such grace hath blest them,'
Manie of them that before were thanes, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ni. i. 146 ;
were at this time made earles, ..." ' the great'st grace lending grace ' etc.,
Holinshed : "Thesewere the first earles AlVs Well that Ends Wdl,u. i. 163.
that haue beene heard of amongst the In like manner he loves to redouble other
Scotifhmen " (Hist. Scot. 1760/47). words : ' And spite of spite needs must I
100. self and violent hands] CoTnpa.Te rest awhile,' 3 Henry VI. 11. iii. 5.
Richard II. in. ii. 166: " Infusing him ' Now, for the love of Love and her soft
with self and vain conceit." "Self," hours,' /47j/owj and Cleopatra, i. i. 44."
say the Clar. Edd., " is used by Shake- Compare also my emendation, " the
speare as an adjectiv'e, as in Twelfth ^;'ace of Goodness," iv. iii. i^^ ante.
Night, I, i. 39, 'One self king,' so that 105. Scone] See the note, 11, iv. 31
he felt no awkwardness in separating it ante. Holinshed, Hist. Scot. 176a, says,
from the substantive, whose sense it " he was crowned at Scone the 25 day
modifies, by a second epithet." of Aprill in the yeere of our Lord
102. the grace of Grace] Theobald 1057."
APPENDIX
NOTE A
IV. iii. 217 : " He has no children.'''
This celebrated passage has given rise to much difference of opinion
as to whether " He " refers to Macbeth or to Malcolm. That Shake-
speare intended it to refer to Macbeth seems to be borne out by the
context. After Macduff's anguished and reiterated inquiries, Ross
concludes his narrative at line 214 with his final " I have said " (and
I can say no more). He then obviously retires into the background ;
or at any rate he is silent during the remainder of the scene, which
takes place solely between Macduff and Malcolm. It is the latter
who interrupts and takes up the conversation at line 214, "Be com-
forted,'' and carries it on to the end. Shakespeare's line of thought
would appear to be as follows : The mention of revenge by Malcolm
both by way of attempted consolation to Macduff and of reminder
of their joint enterprise ("now we'll together," 1. 136 of this scene)
comes, and very naturally, first from Malcolm's lips. Macduff was
to dispute it like a man (221) ; revenge was to be the whetstone of his
sword (229), the tune (time) of revenge went manly (236). Malcolm
urges that revenge is the medicine which will cure Macduff's grief,
and Macduff naturally answers exactly in the same sequence : i.e.
"He (Macbeth) has no children," as 1 had, so that I cannot wreak
any revenge on him through them. Then his ^?-/>/ overpowers him —
he "must also feel it as a man " (221). Dr. A. C. Bradley, in his
admirable volume, Shakespearean Tragedy, 1905 (noteEE on Macbeth,
page 489), discusses the three interpretations which have been offered
of the words, viz. {a) that " they refer to Malcolm, who if he had
children of his own, would not at such a moment suggest revenge,
or talk of curing such a grief " ; and he requotes the well-known
reference to King John, iii. iv. 91, when Pandulph the legate says to
Constance,
You hold too heinous a respect of grief,
10* 163
154 MACBETH
and Constance answers,
He talks to me that never had a son ;
{b) that they refer to Macbeth, who has no children, and on whom
therefore Macduff cannot take an adequate revenge ; {c) that " they
refer to Macbeth, who, if he himself had children, could never have
ordered the slaughter of children " ; and he compares the equally
well-known reference in 3 Henry VI. v. v. 63, where Margaret says
to Prince Edward's murderers,
You have no children, butchers! if you had,
The thought of them would have stirred up remorse.
Dr. Bradley approves of interpretation [a) and cannot think interpre-
tation {b) the most natural. The whole idea of the passage, he
thinks, is that Macduff must feel grief first and before he can feel
anything else, e.g. the desire for vengeance . . . and it is not till ten
lines later that he is able to pass to the thought of revenge. This
idea is quite true as far as it goes, but it does not take sufficient ac-
count of the force of Malcolm's initial speech as above mentioned.
For the same main reason Dr. Bradley thinks interpretation (a) far
more probable than [c) ; and he then deals with the objections to
interpretation {a), viz. " that according to it Macduff would naturally
say, ' You have no children,' not ' He has no children '. But what
Macduff does is precisely what Constance does in the line quoted
from King John." In line 90 it is true Pandulph addresses her, but
her reply is not necessarily addressed to him. " He talks to me that
never had a son " is a mother's retort of mingled grief and scorn for
the papal legate (who could not be supposed to have a son). It is
probably a soliloquy, not addressed either to him or to King Philip ;
or if not so, then at least addressed to King Philip alone, who im-
mediately replies to her, " you are as fond of grief as of your child ".
Therefore this part of the argument in favour of Malcolm being
" He " would seem to carry little weight.
Steevens's interpretation seems to be in favour of either (b) or {c) ;
while Malone thinks that the passage from Kiftg John favours the
interpretation that the words relate to Malcolm. " That Macbeth
had children at some period appears from what Lady Macbeth says
in the First Act, ' I have given suck,' etc." (i. viii. 63).
Elwin, Shakespeare Restored, 1853, ad loc. well remarks: "In-
dependent of the unprovoked and improbable rudeness of making a
reply at his accepted sovereign, instead of to his kindly-intended
address, it is evident that the phrase refers directly to the terms of
Malcolm's proposal" [/.<?. "Be comforted . . . grief," lines 214, 215].
Delius seems to favour interpretation [c). On the other hand
Knight, Hunter and the Clarendon Editors are clearly of opinion that
" He " refers to Macbeth. The latter remark : " Macbeth has no
APPENDIX 155
children, therefore my utmost revenge must fall short of the injury
he has inflicted upon me. The words would be tame if applied to
Malcolm, as Malone takes them."
Mr. E. K. Chambers follows interpretation (a); and Professor
Herford also thinks that " ' He ' is probably Malcolm, whose talk of
comfort at such a moment is thus rebutted and explained. Macbeth
lies wholly beyond the pale of such reproach." So Craig : " Mal-
colm has not yet a child ; if he had, he would not speak thus to me."
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